Topeka ? A coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans is almost certain to keep control of the Kansas State Board of Education following Tuesday’s primary elections, education groups say, which means the board will likely stay on its present course of implementing new national standards for reading, math and science.

It could also make it easier for the board to hire a new education commissioner to succeed Diane DeBacker, who resigned earlier this year to accept a job overseas.

“That will make discussions with potential commissioner candidates more straightforward,” said Tom Krebs, a lobbyist with the Kansas Association of School Boards, which does not endorse political candidates. “It will offer more clarity (to applicants) than the possibility of a board that was going to undergo change.”

Moderates currently hold a 7-3 advantage over conservatives on the state board, although some of the conservatives support the new standards as well.

Five of the 10 seats are up for election this year — two held by moderate Republicans; two held by conservatives; and one held by a Democrat.

There were contested primaries in both of the moderate Republican seats, and moderates won both races. The two conservatives face no opposition for re-election this year. The one Democrat up for re-election, Janet Waugh of Kansas City, had no primary but faces a Republican challenger in the general election.

As a result, observers say, the moderate coalition is guaranteed to keep at least a 6-4 advantage even if Waugh were to lose her general election. Otherwise, the split will remain 7-3.

Sally Cauble, a moderate Republican from Dodge City who supports the new standards, survived a conservative challenge in the primary, winning 55-45 percent over conservative Meg Wilson of Great Bend.

Wilson said little during the campaign about the new Common Core standards for reading and math, but she was endorsed by state Sen. Larry Powell, R-Garden City, who supported legislation to prohibit implementing those standards.

There was also a contested primary in the 9th District, where current board chairwoman Jana Shaver, a moderate from Independence, is stepping down.

Jim Porter, a moderate from Fredonia, won that primary, 58-43 percent, over conservative Martin Burke of Riverton.

Porter, a veteran teacher and superintendent, had backing from Shaver and pro-education political action committees including Kansas Families for Education and the Mainstream Coalition.

Two incumbent conservatives, John Bacon of Olathe and Ken Willard of Hutchinson, are both running unopposed this year.

The other seat up for election this year is the 1st District, where Democrat Janet Waugh of Kansas City was unopposed in the primary. She faces Republican Nancy Klemp of Leavenworth in the general election.

Kansas was among more than 40 states to adopt the Common Core standards. The board approved them on a 9-1 vote in October 2010. But as schools around the country have begun implementing them, they have sparked fierce backlash from conservative groups, including some in the Kansas Legislature.

Although states led the initiative to develop the new standards, the U.S. Department of Education offered financial incentives for states to adopt them, leading conservatives to view them as a form of federal intrusion into state authority by the Obama administration.

But the state board has vigorously defended those standards, and observers say Tuesday’s primary election results suggest that is almost certain to continue.

“We are likely to continue on the same path we’ve been on,” said Mark Dissetti, who lobbies for the Kansas National Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union. “We still have one race to finish up in the general – Janet Waugh’s seat. But assuming she were to win that race, we come out with a state board that’s probably very similar, if not identical, to the current board.”