Topeka ? Some of the state’s appellate and district court judges are being graded, and their report cards will be posted online Aug. 29 to help voters determine whether they should keep their jobs.

The evaluations are being compiled by the state Commission on Judicial Performance. Its reports will cover Kansas Supreme Court justices, Court of Appeals judges and appointed district judges who are on the ballot this year.

Supreme Court justices are appointed but voters decide every six years whether they remain on the bench. Court of Appeals judges are appointed for four-year terms. A little more than half of the district court judges are appointed to four-year terms, while the others run in partisan elections.

In the past, even some supporters of appointing judges have acknowledged that most voters get little information about how well justices or judges perform. Legislators created the commission in 2006 to help correct that problem.

“Now we have information, based upon surveys, that can be used to help voters decide how to vote,” commission spokesman Michael Grimaldi said Monday, adding that regular evaluations also should improve judicial performance.

According to the commission, six other states have such an evaluation system, with Alaska creating the first one in 1976. The others are Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Tennessee and Utah.

The Kansas commission has a budget of about $813,000, financed from court fees. Its 13 members include six non-lawyers; one, Fred Six, is a retired Supreme Court justice and the father of Attorney General Steve Six.

Before legislators created the commission, a few local bar associations rated judges. But Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman John Vratil, a Leawood Republican, said a statewide system will make the ratings more professional – and widespread.

“There were a lot of judges who were never evaluated,” Vratil said.

To grade the judges – on a 4-point scale – the commission is surveying attorneys, other judges and a random selection of people who’ve had cases before a particular judge. It’s hired a Boulder, Colo., firm, Talmey-Drake Research & Strategy Inc., to conduct the surveys; the firm does similar surveys in its home state.