Dozens of education bills making their way through the Kansas Legislature this session could have a profound effect on public schools.

Conservatives want to make it easier for families to send their children to private schools — including diverting tax dollars — and they’re once again pushing for more parental control over what’s taught in public school classrooms.

Other proposals include a push to fully fund special education, a bill that would allow pay for school board members, and one that would dramatically increase the time students spend in school.

Here is a look at some of the education-related measures debated in the Statehouse:

House Bill 2218, an education savings account measure, would give qualifying families about $5,000 of tax money to use toward the cost of private school tuition or homeschooling.

Conservatives say ESAs, which have passed in several other states, would give more families an alternative to public schools, which they say are failing some kids.

Opponents — including public school superintendents, teachers’ unions and the Kansas State Board of Education — say that’s an attempt to defund and undermine public schools. They say there’s no evidence that voucher programs work or that students do better academically in private schools.

House Bill 2048 would expand a tax credit that allows taxpayers to write off up to $500,000 worth of scholarships they provide for private schools. A similar bill, Senate Bill 128, would give taxpayers a refundable income tax credit when their K-12-aged children are not enrolled in public schools.

Opponents say the programs could be used to divert personal or business tax liabilities from the state’s general fund into private school scholarships.

“Holy tax scams, that is a masterful shell game,” said Rep. Mari-Lynn Poskin, an Overland Park Democrat, during a recent committee hearing. “Any religious organization of dark money special interest group can basically divert their group’s entire Kansas tax liability … for distribution to private schools that are not subject to the same oversight as our Kansas public schools.”

Opponents also worry about tax dollars going to religious education. Poskin pointed to a case in Ohio where a white supremacist homeschool shared Nazi-related lesson plans.

“Should a homeschool become a dissonant homeschool in Kansas, the state would be paying for neo-Nazi curriculum and materials,” Poskin said.

Conservative lawmakers continue to push for parental rights legislation. Last year, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a proposed Parents’ Bill of Rights that would have required school districts to develop and adopt policies that guaranteed parents’ rights.

This session, House Bill 2236 would establish parents’ right to direct their children’s education and “to object to harmful or inappropriate educational materials and activities.”

A House committee also approved a last-minute amendment to an open-enrollment bill that would require districts to have an online “parent portal” that lists all curricula, textbooks and other similar materials.

Opponents say the measures are vague and unnecessary because parents can already opt their children out of any lesson.

The governor wants to increase funding to special education by about $72 million a year to bring the state’s contribution to the fully funded level required by Kansas law.

So far, the House has passed a bill that creates a task force to study the issue. Some lawmakers want a resolution asking the federal government to pay more. But there has been no real action on funding.

Another bill would allow — but not require — school districts to pay board members out of their district budgets. The Kansas Association of School Boards is opposing the measure, saying no board member requested it and that many say volunteer service is important to their mission.

Other education bills include one that would allow school board candidates to list a political party affiliation on the ballot, one that would require districts to establish an independent review policy for complaints about bullying, and one that would drastically increase the time students spend in school.

Suzanne Perez reports on education for KMUW in Wichita and the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter @SuzPerezICT.

How do you turn kindergartners into wranglers?

“Little bitty saddles,” Melissa Vander Hamm said, “for little bitty kids.”

There’s a bit more to youth rodeo than that. You need your own horse. Plus a trailer to haul the horse and a truck to tow it all. To ride, you’ll need one of those little saddles and a bunch of other tack, which could put you back thousands of dollars.

In all, a youth rodeo family is an extensive, expensive commitment to living the rural Western lifestyle.

But Vander Hamm knows all that. She’s been competing in rodeo since she was nine years old. Her two sons started at age five. Now, she helps run the Young Guns Extravaganza, a youth rodeo series in Dodge City.

“It’s not a cheap hobby,” Vander Hamm said. “Drive through our parking lot on rodeo weekend and the amount of money just in pickups and trailers … it’s crazy.”

For rodeo families — most of whom, she said, come from agricultural backgrounds — the cost of competing is worth every penny as they look for ways to sustain their traditional way of life and their town’s population of young folks.

In a place where farms and ranches go back generations, rodeo is sewn deep into the cultural fabric of rural Kansas. But the number of people living in the region’s small towns has been shrinking for decades as young adults leave the rural life for bigger cities. Most counties in western Kansas have been steadily emptying since the Dust Bowl.

And parents like Vander Hamm, who lives in the neighboring town of Ingalls (population 288), hope that introducing more kids to the rodeo world might spur them to fall in love with their hometowns’ cowboy culture. Then maybe when those kids grow up, they’ll want to get back in the saddle again.

“The ones that do love it,” Vander Hamm said, “are inclined to come back and be part of the family farm.”

Despite any financial barriers to getting started, youth rodeo is growing.

Vander Hamm founded Young Guns in 2014 with a few other parents who wanted their kids to get more practice during the winter, when other competitions shut down.

The first year, she expected around 50 kids to show up. She got 120.

This season, Young Guns has welcomed nearly 400 little cowpokes into the arena, as they dummy rope, pole bend or barrel race their way to glory. And it’s just one of several youth rodeo associations across the state.

“I do think it’s a trend,” Vander Hamm said. “It’s a time when it’s cool to be a cowboy.”

Back in the saddle

On rodeo day, hundreds of horses trot through an expo center on the south edge of Dodge City. They kick up fine brown dust from the arena floor into clouds that hang in the air.

The morning starts with a prayer from the rodeo chaplain. Then comes the national anthem as the Miss Santa Fe Trail Queen gallops in with a flag.

Mesa Hedland stands near the arena entrance decked out in a brown Western shirt with leather tassels dangling from leopard print shoulder patches.

She’s waiting for her favorite event, which involves chasing down a goat and untying a ribbon from its tail, with help from her trusty steed named Ott.

“He’s addicted to me,” Hedland, who’s from Anthony, Kansas, said. “We can’t spend a day without hanging out with each other.”

Hedland is only five years old, but this is far from her first rodeo. She’s been chasing those goats since she was three.

In the horse warm-up area, nine-year-old friends Paisley Davis and Braylin Barratt offer a tour of the bridles and stirrups strapped to their four-hoofed friends. The pair live a few hours apart in southern Colorado, so they’re making up for lost time here.

Listening to them as they inspect their saddles and laugh about the odd things one particularly ravenous horse has eaten, it’s not hard to spot what rodeo families see as the upside of all this and what they hope kids take away from the experience.

The hard work it takes to care for an animal 10 times their size. The hours of practice required to master skills that most adults can’t pull off. The grit they need to ride into the arena — where every kid but one ends up leaving a loser.

“Be grateful that even though you didn’t win, someone else won,” Barratt said. “Always be grateful.”

And the bonds they form — with people and animals — along the way.

Davis walks up to her horse Thunder until the two stand eye-to-eye. She rests her hand on his neck near the black mane that she’s carefully woven into braids.

“When you do have a bad day,” Davis said, “you can just talk to your horse about it.”