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Corkins: Schools Need Competition

Posted on: Tuesday, 11 October 2005, 00:00 CDT

By Steve Painter, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.

Oct. 9--TOPEKA -- To his critics -- and there are many --new state Education Commissioner Bob Corkins points out, "I'm proud to be a product of Kansas public schools."

He and his wife, Nancy, graduated from Hutchinson High School, class of '79.

Their two sons attend a public junior high school in Lawrence, where they live.

But Kansas public schools, he contends, have one serious shortcoming: They have a monopoly on education.

Public schools, Corkins says, need competition.

Among the possibilities he is considering: tax credits for parents choosing alternative schools, scholarships, vouchers, charter schools, and virtual charter schools that can enroll students from anywhere in the state.

Competition, he said, will stimulate innovation and efficiency.

"In any way possible I can attempt to influence reform in that direction, I will," he said in an interview in his new office.

State board confirmation of his acceptance of the job and its $140,000-a-year salary is expected early this week.

Corkins was selected Tuesday to run an agency with a $3.1 billion budget and to oversee Kansas' 300 local school districts. Since then, Corkins has been alternately praised for his views on controlling spending and taxes and criticized for being anti-education and lacking educational experience.

"I am, frankly, worried," Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said Friday. "At the minimum, Kansans demand competence of their government officials, and I worry about an individual who has absolutely no education experience and no management experience leading this very critical agency."

Some legislators say they will fight to abolish the elected school board that hired him -- or at least to allow the governor to choose the education commissioner.

Kansas is one of eight states with an elected board of education that hires the state's chief education official.

Since his selection on Tuesday by a 6-4 majority, Corkins has reminded people repeatedly that the board sets policy and it's his job to follow through. It's also his job to advise the board.

But his views, he says, were well-known.

He has said in the past that large increases in aid to schools aren't necessary.

"It's no mystery to many people how I might advise the board," he said. "That's what the board knew they were getting, and that's how I intend to proceed."

Corkins has been a thorn in the side of the public-school establishment -- critics call them "educrats" -- for years as the man behind a pair of one-person policy research organizations. He has been funded, in part, by conservative lawmakers who pay membership fees and by corporate sponsors.

On public disclosure reports required of nonprofit agencies, Wichita-based Koch Industries is the only company that gave enough money -- $5,000 -- to be listed by name.

Koch is a heavy contributor to free-market, limited-government lobbying organizations and research institutions across the country.

Corkins earned a law degree from the University of Kansas in 1989, but his career has focused on influencing public policy.

He lobbied the Legislature for nearly a decade for the Kansas Chamber, the state's largest business organization.

His focus was tax policy and, in particular, a push to lower taxes.

Jim Edwards, also a Kansas Chamber lobbyist at the time, said Corkins learned early on that taxes couldn't be cut without keeping a lid on school spending. Funding for kindergarten through 12th grade takes 52 cents of every state tax dollar.

The two now find themselves at odds more often than not. Edwards lobbies for the Kansas Association of School Boards, which has pushed for hundreds of millions of dollars in additional spending in recent years.

Corkins "probably wouldn't have been our first choice," Edwards said.

But just as superintendents need the confidence of their local school boards, he said, the commissioner needs the confidence of a majority of the state board.

"Bob has that," he said.

Corkins said he knew even before he entered law school that he would likely end up in the public-policy arena.

"I was pretty much a news junkie from high school on," he said.

He attended Emporia State University for a year on a debate scholarship, then took a better debate scholarship at the University of Northern Iowa, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree.

What drives him?

"Idealism," he said. "My constitutional training, legal training and great love and respect for the Constitution, as corny as it may sound, is a powerful incentive and motivator in what I've done throughout my career."

Sen. Peggy Palmer, R-Augusta, has nothing but praise for Corkins. She's a member of Kansas Legislative Education and Research, an organization of conservative lawmakers for which Corkins has worked for the past four years.

During that time, Corkins has analyzed and helped rate nearly every bill pending before the Legislature based on four principles: limited government, free enterprise, individual liberties and family values.

The group counts 72 of the 165 lawmakers as members this year, enough of an increase to drop membership fees from $400 to $300.

"He knows more about education than probably most administrators or superintendents because he's so involved with the legislative process," Palmer said.

Rep. Kathe Decker, chairwoman of the House Education Committee, got to know Corkins through his work for the research group. Although she hasn't agreed with him on all issues, she said, "I don't think he's looked at as divisive because he's a very gentle man."

"Sometimes it's good to bring someone in with a different perspective," said Decker, R-Clay Center.

Others sound as if they're not even talking about the same person.

Former Senate President Dave Kerr, R-Hutchinson, said he was "shocked and saddened" at Corkins' selection.

In making decisions on divisive issues, he said, legislators learn to value accuracy and open-mindedness.

"That's not something I thought I had seen with Mr. Corkins over the years," he said.

He expects Corkins' selection to renew interest in doing away with the state board and making the education commissioner a member of the governor's cabinet, appointed by the governor.

Because the board is established in the Kansas Constitution, a change would require two-thirds approval in both houses of the Legislature and the approval of a simple majority of voters.

Carol Rupe, a state board member from Wichita who voted against hiring Corkins, said his selection was "sad for Kansas."

"I think the education commissioner ought to be the advocate for public education," she said.

Corkins was not surprised that his appointment was controversial.

"This may have been the shortest political honeymoon in history," he said.

But he believes supporters and opponents alike will look beyond his lack of background in the classroom and school administration.

"I've got a very broad knowledge of educational issues and the policy decisions that are necessary here," he said.

He downplays the challenge of jumping from a one-man research institute to running a 240-employee agency.

"It's not a one-man show. I've got some tremendous people to lean on," he said.

He said he senses no likelihood that staff members will "abandon ship," as board member Bill Wagnon predicted after Tuesday's vote to hire Corkins.

"I think day by day, the respect for my abilities is going to grow in the department, and this will be a much smoother transition than a lot of people anticipate," Corkins said.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.

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Source: The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.)

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