Topeka ? An attorney for the Kansas State Board of Education said Wednesday that no violation of the Kansas Open Meetings Act occurred during meetings last week between Atty. Gen. Phill Kline and conservative members of the board.

“The facts surrounding the two discussions at issue fail to measure up to a KOMA violation,” attorney Dan Biles said in a letter to Mike Merriam, an attorney representing six news media organizations, including the Lawrence Journal-World.

The news organizations said the board members violated the open meetings law and that Kline’s scheduling of two separate meetings was a “crude attempt to skirt policy of the state of Kansas.”

Merriam also requested records pertaining to the meetings. But as of now, Biles said, he couldn’t find any.

“Having checked about this with those invited to the Attorney General’s Office, I believe there are no agendas, notes, invitations, or any other documents that were in existence on or before Feb. 8,” Biles said.

Merriam said he would consult his clients before deciding what action to take.

“At this point in time, we don’t seem to be getting any constructive discussion going with the board or the attorney general,” he said.

The dispute is over meetings Kline held last week with members of the board, whose 10 members are split, with conservatives holding a 6-4 majority over moderates.

Under the state open meetings law, meetings with a majority of a quorum of a public board must be held in public. A quorum on the education board is six members, and a majority of that is four.

Letter from attorney Mike Merriam (pdf)

Kline held two meetings with three members each. He and members who attended those meetings said Kline discussed school finance litigation and a proposal to put stickers on science books that say evolution is a theory and not a fact.

Earlier Wednesday, Kline publicly struck back at the allegations, appearing before a legislative committee to defend himself and the board members.

“It is not close to a violation,” Kline told members of the Senate Elections and Local Government Committee.

Sen. Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence, asked Kline why he didn’t meet with the entire board during an open session, since the board was meeting on that day.

“I wish I had that farsightedness in this instance,” Kline said.