photo by: Courtesy of Kansas State Department of Education

Taylor Bussinger, of Lawrence, fourth from left, receives the keys to a 2023 Nissan Sentra. Bussinger, the Kansas Teacher of the Year, was presented with the rental car Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, outside the Statehouse in Topeka. He will use the car to travel around the state advocating for public education.

As part of his Kansas Teacher of the Year obligations, Taylor Bussinger is tasked with leading a group of teachers around the state to advocate on behalf of public schools. And now he will have a new set of wheels to do that in.

During a short ceremony Tuesday at the Statehouse in Topeka, Bussinger received the keys to a blue 2023 Nissan Sentra that he will be using for the next six months to perform those duties. Bussinger, a Lawrence High School alumnus and University of Kansas graduate, is in his 11th year teaching social studies at Prairie Trail Middle School in Olathe.

Bussinger told the Journal-World in October that he was working with a group of other Teacher of the Year finalists to develop a presentation for the statewide advocacy stops. He said the trip would be built around “the concept of finding joy in the classroom.”

While Teacher of the Year obligations will pull Bussinger away from the classroom, he said that he was looking forward to hearing perspectives from teachers in different parts of the state.

“One of the things about the teaching profession is that we very rarely get the opportunity to see what others do because we’re always in our classrooms,” he said.

Bussinger’s new rental car is courtesy of an Enterprise Holdings Foundation grant, according to a news release from the Kansas State Department of Education.