Topeka ? House Education Committee Chairman Ralph Tanner is the biggest obstacle to education reform in Kansas, a longtime education lobbyist says.

John Koepke, executive director of the Kansas Association of School Boards, said Tuesday that the Baldwin Republican had burned bridges with nearly everyone in education circles.

“Some would argue it would be hard to be less friendly,” Koepke said.

In an interview, Tanner said he often angered education organizations in Kansas because he openly expressed his view of how public education could improve.

“I’m one of the strongest supporters and harshest critics,” he said.

Tanner said he believed more funding was needed for public schools but that as chairman of the education committee he must take a more pragmatic view.

“Forty-seven or 48 House members have said ‘no new taxes.’ That’s the world I have to operate in,” he said.

Tanner is seeking re-election to the House. He faces Democrat Tom Holland of Baldwin.

Koepke made his remarks at an association seminar on Kansas education politics that included appearances by gubernatorial candidates Tim Shallenburger and Kathleen Sebelius.

For years, Koepke said, solid education legislation had emerged from the Senate Education Committee led by Sen. Dwayne Umbarger, R-Thayer.

“He is one of the most ardent advocates for increased funding to public education,” Koepke said.

But he said the Legislature now was a much different place than when he started as a lobbyist decades ago.

Party discipline has fallen apart, he said, making it more difficult to form coalitions to get legislation passed. Basically, the 125 representatives and 40 senators are “free agents.”

“Leadership has no real control over votes,” Koepke said.

That means the power of a Kansas governor has waned, he said. In the old days, House and Senate leaders cooperated enough that a governor’s political agenda got a hearing. That decline of influence has been ongoing for 15 years, he said.

“It certainly has during the Graves years,” he said.

The balance of Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate is vastly different in 2002 than it was 10 years ago. In the 1992 session, 52 percent of House members were Democrats. Republicans now have the edge, holding 63 percent of seats. There’s a similar story in the Senate, with 55 percent of seats held by Republicans in 1992. Seventy-five percent are in GOP hands this year.

And Koepke said the negative political atmosphere in Topeka had been a turn off for candidates and voters.

“We have a hard time finding anyone who wants to run for the Kansas Legislature,” he said.

The proof: A majority of the House, 63 members, have no opponent in the general election.