Karen G Overbey
Non-Partisan | Kansas
Candidate Profile
Conservative (Conditional)
BIOGRAPHY
Name
Karen G Overbey
Party
Non-Partisan
Election Year
2023
Election
General Municipal and School Board
Race
Leavenworth USD 453 Board of Education, At Large
Incumbent
No
Links
EDUCATION
University of Kansas, Lawrence, BA, 1993
WORK & MILITARY
U.S.Army, CPT, 7
AFFILIATIONS
Special Olympics Kansas, volunteer, Immaculate Conception/St. Joseph Catholic Parish
Religious Education teacher, event volunteer, cleaning duties, Shelter of Hope, night shift volunteer
POLITICAL OFFICES HELD
Candidate did not provide
POLITICAL OFFICES SOUGHT
Candidate did not provide
Race
ENDORSEMENTS
CONSERVATIVE (2)
Moms for America Action
Kansans for Life
REPORTED BY CANDIDATE (1)
Moms for America
OTHER INFORMATION
QUESTIONNAIRE
RIGHT TO LIFE
Abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, should be a resource for instruction or services in the school.
Strongly Disagree
Human life begins at conception and deserves legal protection at every stage until natural death.
Strongly Agree
ECONOMY
Free enterprise and the right to private property are essential elements of a productive economic system.
Strongly Agree
School districts should be able to use taxpayer money for lobbying the state legislature.
Strongly Disagree
What is your position on government funding of public education from Pre-K through college?
I believe in funding k-12 public education with increased emphasis on and accountability for student achievement. I believe in very limited funding for some university programs.
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
At school, students should be able to speak freely and civilly about matters of conscience and faith, including Christianity.
Strongly Agree
School districts should not discriminate against individuals, organizations or small businesses because of their belief that marriage is only a union of one man and one woman.
Strongly Agree
EDUCATION
What is the function of the local school board?
The function of a school board is to set district goals and guardrails, monitor student academic achievement, set policies for the district, approve district budgets that allocate monetary resources toward student achievement, hire the superintendent, and identify and respond to the priorities and values of the community.
Who should have the authority to set curriculum and determine resources used in those curricula?
School administrators and professional educators should recommend curriculum, but the Board, weighing the values of, and cost to, the district and community, has the authority to approve the curriculum for the district. However, parents are the ultimate authority over their own children's curriculum.
When should parents be restricted from speaking in school board meetings?
Parents should only be restricted from speaking if they are threatening violence or otherwise interfering with other patrons' ability to speak and be heard.
Please list in order the following priorities in relation to the role of a K-12 public school (omitting any that do not apply): Mathematics, Information Technology, Science, Political Activism, Personal Finances, Gender Identity, Physical Fitness, American History, Critical Race Theory, Language Arts, Art & Music, Vocational Learning, Sexuality, Foreign Language, Social Emotional Learning
Mathematics. Language Arts, Science, American History, Civics, Physical Fitness, Art and Music, Information Technology, Foreign Language, vocational learning, personal finance
Which more closely matches your view of America's founding principles? A) Liberty and equality. B) Slavery and racism.
Liberty and Equality
What does "equity in education" mean to you?
Equity in education is supposed to mean getting each student whatever they need to be successful, or to end up in roughly the same place. In reality it amounts to a race to the bottom. It is a flattening of achievement and merit in favor of equal results. I am in favor of equality of opportunity, not equality of results.
Written parental consent (opt-in) must be obtained before students are taught courses such as Comprehensive Sex Ed (CSE) or Social Emotional Learning (SEL).
Strongly Agree
The loss of local control in education is too high a price to pay in exchange for federal dollars.
Agree
Unfortunately, federal money has become important in funding public education. It does bring some loss of local control. Losing federal dollars would require creative changes in funding and expectations, but local control is always best.
Parents are the ultimate authority in their child’s education and should be able to freely pursue whatever educational options they deem best for their child.
Strongly Agree
School boards are accountable to parents and taxpayers.
Strongly Agree
Do you believe students should have access to materials that graphically depict and describe sexual acts?
No
All print and digital material available or presented to students should be easily accessible for public review.
Strongly Agree
Do you believe print and digital material available or presented to students should be easily accessible for public review, including those without children enrolled in school.
Yes
I think it should be made easily available for the parents and taxpayers who reside in the district. I would not want to open this option to activist groups who do not have a stake in the community.
VALUES
Briefly describe your spiritual beliefs and values.
I believe in American values, which are western values, which are Judeo-Christian values. I believe in traditional societal norms with tolerance toward the exceptions. I believe in equality of opportunity and the merit of the individual. I am not a social justice collectivist.
I support allowing public high school students to participate in athletic competition based on the gender with which they identify instead of biological sex.
Strongly Disagree
No school official should be involved in the sexual transitioning of a student, including the use of alternative names and pronouns.
Strongly Agree
No healthcare diagnosis or treatment, whether mental, reproductive, or otherwise, should be given to a child without first receiving written consent from the parent.
Strongly Agree
Who is responsible for teaching sexual education to children, and what is the appropriate age when it should be taught?
Always the parents.
If you support the teaching of Sex Ed, please answer the following question: Sexual education should include these topics (list all that apply and add your own, if needed) -- Physical and emotional health outcomes; contraceptive methods; consent; abstinence; sexual orientation and gender identity; human anatomy/the reproductive system; abortion methods and side effects; stages of pregnancy and fetal development; sex acts and pleasures of sex
I support teaching about the biology and anatomy of human reproduction. I believe that attitudes and values toward sex and sexuality should be taught by the parents and respected by the schools.
Judeo-Christian values established a framework of morality that is necessary for our system of limited government.
Strongly Agree
I support allowing public middle and high school students to participate in athletic competition based on the gender with which they identify instead of biological sex.
Strongly Disagree
Biological males should be allowed in female locker rooms and bathrooms.
Strongly Disagree
No school official should be involved in the social or medical transitioning of a student, including the use of alternative names and pronouns.
Strongly Agree
ELECTIONS AND VOTING
People should be able to vote without photo identification.
Strongly Disagree
ABOUT YOU
Have you ever been convicted of a felony or been penalized in either civil or criminal court for sexual misconduct? If so, please explain.
No.
A candidate's personal moral values are relevant when considering a candidacy for elective office.
Strongly Agree
When you consider your views on a wide range of issues from economic and social matters to foreign policy and religious liberty, which of the following best describes you overall?
Very Conservative
Please provide publicly available information, including interviews and media reports, validating your answer to the previous question (other than your website).
Did not answer
Is there anything else you would like voters to know about you?
I am a Christian. I am a wife and mother of 5 children. I am a veteran of the U.S. Army.
I voted in these primaries and general elections:
2014 General Election 2016 Republican Primary 2016 General Election 2018 Republican Primary 2018 General Election 2020 Republican Primary 2020 General Election 2022 Republican Primary 2022 General Election
2ND AMENDMENT
Teachers who are licensed to carry should be allowed to carry guns at school.
Agree
I agree so long as they are current on all their firearms training, are comfortable with carrying a firearm, and participate in practice drills on a regular basis.
OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES
Under what circumstances (if any) should schools be allowed to require vaccinations?
I feel that childhood vaccines should be strongly encouraged, even "required." However, I do believe that exemptions should be granted at the request of the parents for religious or medical reasons without an overly onerous process to justify the exemption.
I support mask mandates.
Strongly Disagree
I will never support mask mandates as they do not work to stop the spread of respiratory diseases and are harmful to children.
All official open meetings should be live streamed, recorded, and have transcripts available online for public access.
Strongly Agree
All votes should be roll call votes and recorded in meeting minutes.
Strongly Agree
