By Emma Loura/Manhattan Mercury
With District 51 Rep. Kenny Titus making a run at the Kansas Senate this year, there’s a spot open for a new Republican candidate to take over.
Voters on Tuesday will choose between Eli Kormanik of Alta Vista and Megan Steele of Manhattan to represent the GOP in the race for District 51, which encompasses Wamego, the east side of Manhattan, Wabaunsee County and portions of rural Pottawatomie County.
Steele is a doctorate-level registered nurse who is listed as the school nurse at Flint Hills Christian School. Kormanik is a 2022 graduate of Council Grove High School with experience interning for U.S. Rep. Tracey Mann and in the Kansas State House.
The winner of this primary will take on Democrat Linda Morse, a former Manhattan mayor and city commissioner, in the Nov. 5 general election.
What are your priorities as a candidate, and of those, what is the greatest challenge the state is facing?
Steele: As a conservative candidate, my priorities are education, healthcare, decreasing taxes, local and state infrastructure, and transparency and accountability. The greatest challenge facing our state is that we are graduating students from high school that are not equipped with the knowledge and skills to be productive citizens in our communities. This ultimately affects their futures as well as our futures.
Kormanik: In my conversations with constituents, the big two issues I hear are high property taxes and the state of our educational system. I am for lowering taxes in a fiscally responsible way to return more dollars to Kansas taxpayers. I would like to give parents more insight and involvement in their kids’ education as well as give them more authority in local districts, as they know their areas better and are more connected.
What are the key issues in K-12 education in Kansas?
Steele: There are four key issues in K-12 education in Kansas: funding, textbooks, standards and social-emotional learning. Our most vulnerable students are hurt the most as school systems direct scarce resources and funding away from classrooms. Resources should be spent teaching our children to read, write, and do math. Our teachers must be supported with adequate support in their classrooms, including paras and supplies. Textbooks are teaching our children that their skin color is the most important thing about them and are erasing truth and history. Teaching students’ truth and history is how they become critical thinkers. Standards lack purpose and fail to challenge students. Social-emotional learning was designed to help meet the basic needs of children but has morphed into undermining our children’s mental health and their ability to flourish.
Kormanik: This spring, I had the opportunity to work at the statehouse with legislators on the Education Committee, and the two things we heard from teachers are, as alluded to earlier, lack of parent involvement and overbearing control from the state board. I think empowering parents to be more involved and empowering local districts to take more control is critical.
Do you support Gov. Laura Kelly’s push for Medicaid expansion? Why or why not?
Steele: No, I do not support the push for Medicaid expansion. Covering a cost for one group of people by causing the cost to go up for another group is not okay. The Medicaid expansion would bring in a new population for able-bodied adults that are able to obtain health insurance for as low as $20 a month. We need to focus on making healthcare more accessible by adding more providers, decreasing providers’ time that is consumed by regulatory burdens and using the money for direct care and not bureaucratic diversions.
Kormanik: No. Contrary to popular belief, Medicaid expansion is not free, and we cannot afford it in Kansas. On top of this, there is no way out once you get in; once you expand Medicaid, the federal government will not let you out. These are just more examples of federal overreach on state-level issues.
How would you handle taxes on Kansans?
Steele: I am in favor of reducing any and all taxes. There are expenditures that must be funded and budgeted for. However, are all expenses truly necessary or appropriate? Are all expenses constitutional and fully authorized by state statute? We must hold agencies accountable to their budget, and all agencies must decrease their budgets.
Kormanik: I think the work the state house accomplished this spring is a good start. However, as we still have a large surplus, I would have liked to see further reductions in property tax.
Tuition is set to increase at K-State next year. What can the legislature do to help universities generate enough revenue while making sure they’re affordable for students?
Steele: It is not the responsibility of the legislature to help universities generate revenue.
Kormanik did not provide a response to this question.
Do you support using incentives to attract a professional sports team like the Chiefs or the Royals to the Kansas side of the border?
Steele: I do not support using incentives to attract professional sports teams. We need to be using incentives to help Kansans. Assist with small business growth, assist with infrastructure, assist with broadband in counties that lack internet and cell service, such as south Wabaunsee County.
Kormanik: I was personally against the incentives package offered by the state house this year. I think when the government gets in the game of choosing winners or losers, you end up with worse results for everyone involved. Further, the package offered by the legislature was much more generous than STAR bonds have previously been used for.
