Participants from Chase County and other school districts are being sought for a caravan Tuesday from the Chase County High School parking lot to the Capitol building in Topeka.
The caravan will stop at the Kansas National Education Association building in Topeka and participants will walk to the Capitol.
The walk for education is sponsored by the Kansas Families for Education political action committee. The KFE PAC is intended to provide financial support and endorse candidates who support public education, according to KFE. It was formed in 2002 and is non-partisan as it works to promote adequate yearly funding for public schools.
Kevin Ireland, who is working to mobilize participants, said that he had received an e-mail about the rally from Kay Lauer, who serves with him and others on the steering committee of “Imagine Chase County.”
“I would like to see at least 100 (people),” Ireland said. “It is the Tuesday of spring break, so a lot of the kids have other plans. We’re really encouraging students, parents, faculty, staff members, and really, just shareholders in the public school district to attend.”
Chase County residents will meet at the high school at 8:30 a.m. and will leave at 9 a.m. for Topeka. They expect to reach the KNEA parking lot about 10:30 a.m. and will march to the Capitol at 11:30 a.m.
Ireland, who said he is not related to the Ireland family that long has been part of the Chase County educational system, came to the area about five years ago and became interested in working on behalf of educating children.
Members of the group hope they will be able to meet with their representatives and senators to talk to them about adequately financing public education. Ireland said that the current budget crunch is not unique to the Chase County school district.
“Lots of districts have had to make some really difficult courses that often result in divisions in the community,” he said. “I just thought this would be a great opportunity for people to come together and work together, kind of look at the larger issues. It’s sometimes easier to get bogged down in the details of what has to be done to reduce these budgets.”
The ICC group plans to take students who participate to lunch in Topeka, then seek out their legislators to meet individually with them.
“We’ll try to let our legislators know that we don’t want the remainder of the budget to be balanced on the back of the school budget,” Ireland said. “I really think that when you have tight budgets and lots of different interests competing for very limiting resources, it’s often the loudest voices that get heard. And I think that too often the schools are left out of that discussion.”
He encourages representatives of other districts in this area of the state to participate in the caravan with Chase County. It will not be necessary to register, though Ireland would like to coordinate caravans so they arrive successively at Topeka.
“But we would love to know that they are coming, so we can plan accordingly,” he said. “I had a vision in my mind of hundreds of cars coming into Topeka.”
If people plan to attend, Ireland said, arrivals could be coordinated through cell phones, with a contact person — not the driver — in each car, he said.
More information on the caravan and the march may be seen at Imagine Chase County’s Web site, http://imaginechasecounty.org, or by e-mailing contact@imaginechasecounty.org.
Information also may be seen at the KFE Web site, fundourpublicschools.com.