A group dedicated to increasing public school funding is taking on state Rep. Ralph Tanner, R-Baldwin, one of the most influential lawmakers in Kansas on education issues.

The group  Kansas Families United for Public Education  has endorsed Tanner’s Democratic opponent, Tom Holland, in the Nov. 5 election, and is alleging Tanner has distributed an unethical campaign flier.

“He (Tanner) is the biggest obstacle to improving education in this state for our schoolchildren,” said Joe Spease, a member of Kansas Families United for Public Education.

Tanner, chairman of the House Education Committee, dismissed the criticism and the group, saying “they don’t know what they are talking about.”

The boundaries of the 10th District, which Tanner and Holland are vying to represent, were recently redrawn to include Baldwin, some of south Lawrence and part of Ottawa.

The major disagreement between Tanner and the education group is about school funding.

Johnson County-based Kansas Families United has endorsed a state study that says Kansas is underfunding public schools by hundreds of millions of dollars. The study was completed by Denver-based education consultant group Augenblick & Myers Inc.

Holland, a business and technology consultant from Baldwin, said the study was important because it showed areas in which Kansas must pay attention to improve public schools.

Holland said his major beef with Tanner, a four-term incumbent, is that the Republican doesn’t listen to input on education issues.

“There is an arrogance there. I don’t think that Mr. Tanner has been up to the job,” Holland said.

Tanner has said he is criticized because he refuses to “blindly” go along with the wishes of the Kansas National Education Assn.

He said the Augenblick & Myers study failed to cover many important aspects of school finance, including a comparison of Kansas funding with that in neighboring states.

“It is amazing to me that intelligent people will accept that kind of tripe without looking behind it,” Tanner said of the study.

Those comments stick in the craw of Kansas Families United members.

Spease said Tanner had continually called for studies to show what a constitutionally mandated “suitable” education would cost.

The State Board of Education, a task force appointed by Gov. Bill Graves and the Augenblick & Myers study all have recommended significantly increasing funding for public schools, he said.

“It doesn’t seem to make any difference what study comes in, Mr. Tanner never seems to believe those,” Spease said. “For whatever reason, he is not going to fund education. He is doing a great disservice to the children of the state by ignoring all the studies coming in.”

Misspent funds?

But Tanner has said significant amounts were being misspent on school administration rather than in the classroom. He also said schools were wasting money on unneeded classes.

“We don’t have courses in basketweaving, but we have others that are equally ridiculous,” he said.

Kansas Families United officials also expressed outrage that Tanner had sent campaign material on his state of Kansas letterhead, and they questioned the use of a quote in the material from Lawrence school district Supt. Randy Weseman.

Tanner conceded he probably should not have used state stationery but said the cost was minuscule.

The use of the quote from Weseman gives the appearance the superintendent has endorsed Tanner, which is not the case, the group said.

Weseman said the quote was taken from a letter he sent to all Lawrence-area legislators who participated in a school funding forum last year. The letter thanked the legislators for attending.

“It’s not an endorsement,” Weseman said. “I suppose what he chooses to do with this is his business. He didn’t ask me to put it in there.”

Tanner denied that use of the Weseman quote was meant to imply Weseman had endorsed him.