JoCo lawmaker says leaked video on dissolving school boards misrepresents his views
Kansas House Majority Leader Chris Croft says a leaked video in which he states his excitement about the possibility of dissolving school boards is not a fair representation of his views on public education.
The Overland Park Republican has avoided responding to inquiries about the video since it was posted to X on Nov. 2, three days before the election, by the account @GRTPowerfulOz.
It presents several clips edited together from a recorded Zoom call dated March 10, 2023, featuring Croft and Maria Holiday, chair of the Johnson County Republican Party. During an exchange, Croft states that he’s “so stinkin’ excited” about the prospect of district dissolution by community petition.
Croft told The Star Friday that he is a firm believer in public education and does not want to see any school districts in Johnson County or across Kansas disbanded. The footage, he said, was taken from a video call where he invited constituents to ask him questions.
“Sometimes people would ask, ‘Hey, what are our options? Hey, what are some ideas?’ It’s a chance to just share ideas and think about things,” Croft said. “That doesn’t count for advocacy or anything else.”
What is said in the video?
The video begins with Croft invoking local control, the authority that local government bodies have to manage their own affairs and make decisions without undue interference from higher levels of government.
“So when is it that we’re going to step in and do local control? When are we going to step over local control and doing that?” Croft said. “That’s clearly the local government making a decision based on what they view their budget is and who we’ve put in those offices.”
The edited video then cuts to Holiday saying, “We need to address that in Johnson County strongly because (County Commission Chair) Mike Kelly is never going to back up until we push him back.”
“Yeah, or we get him out of there, which is what we need to do,” Croft responds. “Unfortunately, that’s four years away, right?”
Holiday then asks, “Are there alternatives to that?”
“Hey, you know what? There actually is some (sic) alternatives to things,” Croft says. “I’m glad you brought that up. I’m going to need to go research the county commissioner more, but I did find out about the fact that we have school districts, school board districts, local school board districts that are removing schools from their district.”
The video then cuts to another clip of Croft speaking.
“But in the process of learning that, I also found out that we can dissolve a school board. We can do it by petition,” Croft said. “And I owe you guys the specifics on how to get that done, and I will be doing that because I am so stinkin’ excited about the possibility there.”
“I feel like you should insert an evil laugh,” Holiday says.
The video ends with Croft laughing, stating, “I like that,” and Holiday responding, “Mwahahaha.”
‘Just asking questions’
Croft told The Star he keeps in close contact with Blue Valley school officials and regularly attends board meetings. He called the district “spectacular.”
“My ideas on school boards — I actually very much support the school boards,” Croft said.
He responded to a question on the call by volunteering information about state law, he said, specifically K.S.A. 72-635, which provides for school districts to be disorganized if at least 20% of school board voters sign a petition and a majority of voters then approve the dissolution.
“I constantly allow people to come in and talk about ideas,” Croft said. “I don’t agree with everything that’s said. I don’t. But sometimes you actually have to ask questions to get their opinions on things. And if you do it wrong, it makes it look like you’re the one supporting it when in fact you’re simply just asking questions.”
Asked to explain why the footage shows him stating his excitement about the idea, Croft suggested that it could be edited deceptively.
“That also may have been how it was spliced. I can’t defend myself on that because I didn’t videotape (the call),” Croft said.
Holiday, who did not respond to a request for comment, previously told The Johnson County Post that the video was likely edited to misrepresent what was said on the call.
In response to Holiday’s accusation, @GRTPowerfulOz posted three extended audio-only clips from the Zoom call showing that it was Croft who brought up school districts after Holiday stated that something should be done to disempower the Democratic chair of the county commission.
The extended clips show that roughly two minutes were edited out between Croft mentioning local control and Holiday bringing up the county chair, during which time Croft discussed the Legislature overriding local tax decisions.
Another minute was edited out of Croft talking about school boards retaliating against individual schools by removing them from their districts, after which he introduces the idea of dissolving districts by petition.
Jim McMullen, a Blue Valley school board member, said he hasn’t lost any sleep over the video.
“I’ve seen it. I’m not concerned. I guess it’s probably good political fodder,” McMullen said. “From my perspective, Chris is a very strong supporter of Blue Valley.”
Judith Deedy, a Johnson County public schools activist, said the leak shows how some conservative lawmakers change their message on education based on who they’re talking to.
“I think people have a right to know what their rep really thinks even if they just re-elected him because that is not what he said when campaigning,” Deedy said.
“You can also look at his votes to see how his support for public education has been less than stellar.”
