Holli Joyce is getting tired of watching Pinckney School suffer.

Her two children attend the school, and she is chairwoman of the site council. In recent months, she has watched as Lawrence school district officials have cut teachers, reassigned a counselor and trimmed hours for a nursing position from the school’s staff.

Craig Grant, a lobbyist for Kansas-National Education Assn., displays a sign in his yard campaigning for politicians who will vote for increased funds for schools.

Joyce pins the blame for the cuts squarely on the Kansas Legislature, which she thinks didn’t do enough last session to fund schools.

So two weeks ago, she put a sign in the front yard of her home in the 800 block of Arkansas Street. It says, “Elect candidates who will fund our public schools.”

Joyce isn’t the only one. Although no one has an exact count, more of the signs are popping up around Lawrence, the outgrowth of a campaign that started in Johnson County and which is starting to flex some political muscle there and around the state.

Kansas Families United for Public Education says it is dedicated to electing candidates who will vote in favor of more money for schools.

“We are determined to back candidates who are going to fund our public schools, and who will back those statements with votes to do it,” said Kathy Cook of Shawnee, the group’s treasurer. “Everybody’s pro-public education, but it matters whether they vote for it.”

Statewide presence

Cook said the organization printed up 3,000 signs like the one in Joyce’s yard. More than 2,500 have been distributed, she said.

“They’re as far as Salina and Wichita and Kansas City,” she said. “It’s definitely a state problem, and we’re going to have to make these choices across the state to solve it.”

Families United also is flexing its muscle by making endorsements in the Republican primaries for statewide campaigns and Johnson County seats in the Legislature. Cook said the organization planned to make endorsements in Douglas, Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties during the general election season.

In Johnson County’s 18th District, the group has endorsed Cindy Neighbor in a primary challenge against incumbent Republican Rep. Mary Pilcher Cook, who voted against the Kansas Legislature’s final budget that imposed some new taxes to pay the bills.

Rep. Cook, no relation to Kathy Cook, said she wasn’t worried about the Family United campaign.

“Overall, I don’t think it’s going to have an effect on the race,” she said. “There’s a group, they’ve really been peddling this idea that if you’re against increasing taxes, you’re against education. Which is not true, and it’s certainly not true in my case.”

No gubernatorial endorsement

But David Adkins, the Republican attorney general candidate who has received the group’s endorsement in his primary election campaign, said he thought Family United’s support could help him.

“It will help people who may not otherwise be able to discern who the friends and supporters of public education are,” Adkins said. “Some voters who may not typically vote in a primary might be energized to turn out.”

The group has made no endorsement in the Republican primary for governor.

“We didn’t feel there was anybody who was a true friend of public education,” Kathy Cook said.

For now, the activism in Lawrence seems limited to putting out yard signs. But education advocates hope it will lead to something more.

“I think it will make a difference for people to stop and think,” said Craig Grant, a lobbyist for the Kansas-National Education Assn., who has one of the signs in front of his Lawrence home. “I think there’s a chance people will think about education when they’re voting.”

Grant’s neighbor Joey Sprague also has one of the signs out front.

“I’m highly motivated to find out about people who are running this fall, what kind of stand they took,” Sprague said. “A Legislature that is not interested in supporting public education isn’t interested in supporting basic government functions. If they don’t want to do the job, they should give it to somebody who does.”