Topeka ? Two Democratic legislators asked Shawnee County’s district attorney Thursday to investigate private meetings between Attorney General Phill Kline and State Board of Education members.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, of Topeka, and Rep. Paul Davis, of Lawrence, said Kline hasn’t provided enough information to show the gatherings were allowed under the Kansas Open Meetings Act.

Kline, a Republican, met with the six conservative Republicans who form a majority on the 10-member board, in two meetings with three board members each. He says the meetings were legal because he didn’t transmit information between the two groups or try to help them form policy.

The attorney general also has noted repeatedly that he publicly discussed the topics covered in the meetings. They included education funding and his willingness to defend in court a policy of putting stickers in science textbooks saying evolution is a theory, not a fact, should the board want to pursue it.

“We welcome the investigation because we know there were no violations of the Open Meetings Act,” said Kline spokesman Whitney Watson.

Dan Biles, an attorney for the board, said: “I really don’t have any concern that there was a violation of the law. I think anybody who looks at it will come to the same conclusion.”

As the state’s chief law enforcement officer, Kline investigates alleged violations of open meetings and records law. However, Kansas law also permits local prosecutors to investigate.

Hensley and Davis sent a letter Thursday to Shawnee County District Attorney Robert Hecht.

The district attorney said he hasn’t had time to review their request or determine whether he would have reasonable grounds for an investigation.

The Open Meetings Act requires public boards to notify the public when a majority of a quorum plans to meet and to hold their discussions in public. For the Board of Education, a majority of a quorum is four members.

Hensley and Davis suggested Kline’s two gatherings with board members were “serial” meetings, creating a single session involving a majority of members. Kline says that interpretation is strained and would outlaw meetings between, for example, lobbyists and one or two legislators.

After the meetings, five newspapers also questioned their legality in letters to Kline and the board. They were The Associated Press, The Hutchinson News, Kansas City Star, Lawrence Journal-World, Salina Journal and Topeka Capital-Journal.

Their attorney, Mike Merriam, said an investigation by a county prosecutor would be valuable.

“They have subpoena power,” he said. “I don’t.”

Jim Bloom, the Hutchinson paper’s editor and publisher, was encouraged by the legislators’ request.

“I’m glad that other Kansans are expressing concerns about how the State Board of Education conducted those sessions,” Bloom said. “From my perspective, openness isn’t a political issue, but a principle that all Kansans should appreciate.”