Topeka ? Lawrence school board member Scott Morgan, a Republican, filed Monday to challenge state Sen. Marci Francisco, a Democrat.

Morgan, 50, said it is important for Lawrence legislators to build coalitions across the state to help support Kansas University and the public education system.

“I can do this,” he said.

Francisco, 57, a former mayor of Lawrence, was first elected to the state Senate in 2004.

She has supported increased spending for public schools and during the recent legislative session opposed bills that would have allowed two coal-fired power plants in western Kansas.

Morgan said that he didn’t know how he would have voted on the coal plant legislation, but that he would have worked for a compromise.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius rejected bills that would have authorized the plants, citing environmental concerns from the project’s greenhouse gases. Supporters of the plants failed to overturn Sebelius’ vetoes.

Morgan, an attorney, was first elected to the school board in 1999 and served as president in 2003. He later lost re-election, but was voted back on the board in 2007.

He and his wife, Kathleen, founded Morgan Quitno Press, which specializes in state and city statistical databases, and was sold in 2007 to CQ Press, the publishing division of Congressional Quarterly.