By ALIN HETT
Hays Post
Republican Kelly Ancar, candidate for Kansas Board of Education District 5, said improving literacy, increasing parental involvement and ensuring education dollars are spent in classrooms are among her top priorities if elected.
She discussed her platform during a recent interview with the Hays Post.
District 5 covers much of western Kansas, including Ellis County.
Ancar grew up in the small community of Ransom, where she graduated in a class of 20 students. She later attended Fort Hays State University, earning a bachelor's degree in nursing in 1994 before completing graduate coursework in nursing administration. She also taught nursing at Fort Hays State University and North Central Kansas Technical College.
Outside of education, Ancar said she has spent 30 years as a business owner and compliance consultant, helping organizations improve operations and meet regulatory requirements. She said those experiences have prepared her to serve on the Kansas Board of Education.
Ancar said concern over declining academic performance motivated her to enter the race.
"I think my biggest motivator was watching the decline that has happened over these last several years," she said.
Ancar cited statistics, saying Kansas has experienced a significant decline in reading achievement over the past decade. She said the state ranked fifth nationally in reading in 2013, but has since fallen into the bottom 10. She also said six out of 10 eighth-grade students are not reading at grade level, creating challenges for colleges and employers.
Ancar said those concerns became more personal because she has 10 grandchildren attending public schools, private schools and homeschool programs.
"I want all of my grandchildren to love school the way that I did," she said. "I want everyone's grandchildren to love school the way that they did when they were growing up."
Rather than focusing on who is responsible for declining academic performance, Ancar said she wants to focus on improving outcomes.
"It's not about whose fault it is," she said. "It's about putting somebody there who can actually do something to fix it before it gets any worse and also help get us back into the top five again."
Literacy first
Ancar said restoring structured literacy instruction in kindergarten through third grade would be her highest priority if elected.
"If you can't teach kids to read, if they can't learn to read, then they can't learn to read later," she said. "We can't teach other subjects like chemistry or history or civics or any of the sciences if they don't know how to read."
She said schools should begin screening children for reading disabilities and learning challenges as early as kindergarten so intervention can begin before students fall behind.
"The window is starting to close by third grade," Ancar said, adding that schools should capitalize on students' early ability to absorb information.
Ancar also said she supports expanding the use of reading specialists in Kansas schools to train teachers in structured literacy and to provide additional support for students already struggling to read.
She said intervention should not be limited to younger students.
"We can't just graduate them out into the world and say, 'We'll start over with K through three,'" she said. "We can't turn our backs on those high school kids."
Drawing from her experience teaching nursing students at FHSU, Ancar said she encountered college students who required remedial reading instruction before they could successfully complete coursework.
She said those experiences reinforced her belief that literacy problems should be addressed long before students reach higher education.
"These are nursing students," she said. "That just is not something that should ever happen."
Parents as Partners
Ancar said parents should play an active role in their children's education and described families as essential partners with schools.
"The parent is supposed to be the actual primary authority for all moral development, education, all of it for their children," she said. "They should be in the driver's seat."
She said schools should keep parents informed about educational materials and surveys as required under Kansas law while encouraging greater communication between families and educators.
According to Ancar, stronger parental involvement could also help address student behavior, which she said teachers frequently identify as one of their biggest classroom challenges.
"There has to be a big effort to reinvolve parents in the classroom," she said. "You really can't have one without the other."
Funding priorities
On school funding, Ancar said the discussion should focus less on whether education is "fully funded" and more on how existing dollars are being spent.
"We're spending $19,000 a year on education per child," Ancar said, adding that some districts spend considerably more.
She questioned whether current spending priorities are producing better student outcomes.
She said her background in compliance auditing would help school districts evaluate spending practices and improve efficiency.
"I want school districts to be able to audit themselves in a different way than what they're doing right now," she said.
Ancar argued districts should "budget from the classroom up," ensuring that teachers and students receive the resources they need before increasing administrative costs.
She cited figures indicating non-teaching and administrative staffing have increased faster than classroom teaching positions, saying those priorities should be reevaluated.
"Our schools have one job, and that's to educate these children," she said. "The funding should start in the classroom."
Ancar is running against Jean Clifford in the Republican primary for the District 5 seat on the Kansas Board of Education. The primary election is Aug. 4.