Judge rejects school board recall effort

? State law on recalling public officials must be clarified before patrons start ousting entire school boards because of unpopular actions taken in response to lean budgets, a judge said in dismissing a recall petition.

“Kansas is in a state of financial crisis,” District Judge Terry Klinginsmith wrote in his order Monday that blocked a recall election against three Kaw Valley school board members who voted to consolidate two high schools.

“It is reasonable to assume that our courts may soon be facing an increase of these type of cases,” Klinginsmith wrote. “The law needs clarity, either in the interpretation of current law, or by legislative amendment to existing statutes.”

The Kaw Valley school board created an uproar in April by voting 4-3 to consolidate Rossville and St. Marys high schools, create a middle school for fifth- through eighth-graders and establish a charter school.

Angry parents in the district, which spans the Pottawatomie-Shawnee county line, went to court to block the consolidation, but Klinginsmith ruled the school board had acted within its authority.

Patrons then circulated the recall petition against three of the members who voted for the consolidation. Klinginsmith ruled Nov. 8 the petition met the legal requirements for holding a vote to recall an elected official for incompetence.

But after reconsidering the patchwork of Kansas statutes and court decisions on recall elections, Klinginsmith said Monday, he decided the recall petition was inadequate.