Topeka ? After having roughed up evolution, the 6-4 majority on the State Board of Education on Wednesday considered recommending that taxpayers pay for students to go to private schools.

The push for vouchers and more charter schools prompted heated arguments on the divided board that one day earlier had slugged it out over science standards that criticize evolution.

No action was taken Wednesday on the possible legislative measures, but the battle is expected to resume at the board’s December meeting.

Education Commissioner Bob Corkins pushed for vouchers and expansion of charter schools, saying the proposals would improve the state education system through competition and by providing parents more choices on where their children could attend school.

He said a voucher program in Florida had resulted in improvements in the public school system.

“The availability of choice increases the quality in traditional public schools,” he said.

But moderate board members disapproved of Corkins’ offerings, saying that school vouchers and widespread establishment of charter schools were usually tried in states with severe problems in public schools.

With statewide test results rising, and Kansas ranked high in most education rankings, board member Sue Gamble, a Shawnee Republican, asked, “What is the problem that we are trying to correct?”

For and against

Board member Bill Wagon, a Democrat from Topeka whose district includes Lawrence, said, “We don’t in this state have any failed school systems.”

He said the Kansas City, Kan., school district probably has the most serious socio-economic challenges, and it is meeting them head-on through the current system.

“We are seeing the most spectacular successes that are a model for the nation,” he said.

But board Chairman Steve Abrams, R-Arkansas City, said, “I don’t see this as trying to destroy public education. I see this as building education.”

Board member John Bacon, R-Olathe, said the more choices for parents, the better. He said some of his constituents in the Blue Valley school district were upset with the schools’ required reading lists.

“If there was a choice option, maybe some of the parents might go,” he said.

But Janet Waugh, a Democrat from Kansas City, said she wasn’t interested in providing public funds to send children to private schools because the private schools can refuse certain students, and are not required to be accredited or provide transportation.

“When we do that, I’ll accept vouchers,” she said.

Waugh was also critical of information Corkins brought forward on a Texas law that provides financial incentives for students to graduate from high school early to attend college.

She said Texas’ public school system ranks near the bottom in most categories while Kansas’ ranks in the top 10 among states. “I would prefer looking at programs in the top 10,” she said.

Charter schools

Another concept would allow charter schools, which generally operate with more independence than standard public schools, to form without having to get local school board approval.

Board member Connie Morris, R-St. Francis, said she would like to see a charter-like entrepreneurial school that would be available online for certain high school students, who would then receive assistance to start their own businesses.

Vouchers and expansion of charter schools have been bottled up in the Legislature in recent years because of lack of support.

Sen. Jean Schodorf, R-Wichita, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, said most lawmakers weren’t interested in the proposals.

“The state board has to establish why or how vouchers would help all student achievement in public schools,” Schodorf said.

“I have no interest in taxpayers paying tuition at private schools. The commissioner and state board want to pay the education costs for 10 percent of the state’s students in private schools, and ignore the 90 percent enrolled in public schools,” she said.