Topeka ? Progressive groups are planning a series of rallies at the Kansas Statehouse starting Tuesday to protest conservative social and budget policies enacted in Kansas in recent years.

Modeled after the “Moral Mondays” protests that began last year in North Carolina, organizers say the “Turnaround Tuesday” rallies in Kansas will be a series of “non-partisan educational events” focusing on different topics each week.

Joshua Longbottom, of the Topeka Center for Peace and Justice, which is coordinating the rallies, said he hopes one thing will be different from those North Carolina events. He doesn’t expect any arrests.

“It’s all scheduled with the Statehouse events coordinator,” Longbottom said. “These are non-partisan educational events. There’s no reason anybody should be arrested.”

In North Carolina last summer, more than 1,000 people were arrested during Moral Mondays rallies at the state capitol in Raleigh. Most were charged with trespassing, violating the General Assembly’s building rules and failure to disperse. But two state court judges recently dismissed charges against some of the protesters, saying the arrests violated their constitutional rights of free speech.

Longbottom is also the pastor of the Central Congregational Church in Topeka. Before moving there last fall, he spent seven years as pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church in Lawrence.

He said the issues prompting the Kansas rallies are similar to those in North Carolina.

“This is a critical moment in the life of Kansas,” he said. “If things continue as they are now, we’ll hit a point of no return in terms of our social safety net.”

He said the events will start around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays through Election Day on the south lawn of the Statehouse and will last about 20 to 25 minutes.

The first event, scheduled for Tuesday, on the south lawn of the Statehouse, will focus on funding for the arts.

Other themes will include Medicaid expansion on Sept. 9; reproductive justice on Sept. 16; the death penalty on Sept. 23; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality on Sept. 30; voter rights and immigration reform on Oct. 7; labor rights on Oct. 14; environmental issues on Oct. 21; and education funding on Oct. 28.