In the contest to replace board vice chairwoman Carol Rupe, Democrat and Wichita businessman Walt Chappell is the only choice for voters who want no more board battles over evolution or other ideological issues. Chappell, who has degrees in science and instructional systems design, has taught science and math and other subjects at the K-12 and college levels. He served on a local school board and oversaw its budgeting, and also worked in school finance and education policy at the state and federal levels. Chappell's top concerns include seeing that schools give children "employable skills" that can take them either to college or a vocation, improving the No Child Left Behind program, better recruiting and retaining teachers, and reducing dropout rates. Asked about another evolution flip-flop, he said, "Not again, not under my watch." And he wants to ensure dollars get into the classrooms. "I'm trying to make certain we make decisions on fact and not emotion and stay focused on kids," he said. Chappell would be a smart, assertive representative on the board.

Wichita Republican Dennis Hedke, a consulting geophysicist, counts among his top concerns teacher retention and recruitment, dropout rates, classroom discipline and the No Child Left Behind law's load on teachers. But his eagerness to see evolution theory scrutinized in the classroom, his view of information worthy of discussion in science classes (including from intelligent design think tanks), his documented doubts about man-made global warming and his desire to revisit how sex education is taught add up to an invitation for more trouble on the state board and more national ridicule. Kansas doesn't need that.

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