Diediker flips state board seat covering Blue Valley schools

Amy Diediker won the Kansas State Board of Education District 3 seat on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The Democrat from Olathe flipped the position from Republican control, earning about 55% of the vote.

Diediker defeated Republican Jim McMullen of Overland Park by roughly 14,000 votes, the Shawnee Mission Post reported. Unofficial results showed Diediker with 74,482 combined votes in Johnson and Miami counties to McMullen's 60,588.

District 3 unofficial results

Source: Kansas Secretary of State, last updated Nov. 5 at 11:15 a.m. All 4,168 of 4,168 statewide precincts reporting. Results are unofficial and do not include provisional ballots.

Provisional ballots will be counted during the county canvass no later than Nov. 16, according to the Secretary of State's office. The State Board of Canvassers is set to certify results on Dec. 1.

District 3 covers southern Johnson County and northern Miami County. It represents the Blue Valley, Gardner Edgerton, Olathe and Spring Hill school districts.

The seat was held by Republican Michelle Dombrosky, who did not seek reelection after campaigning as the lieutenant governor candidate for GOP gubernatorial candidate Charlotte O'Hara, the Post reported.

What Diediker says she'll prioritize

Diediker, a former elementary music teacher in Junction City and De Soto, said her first-year priorities include bringing local voices to the state board, improving reading scores at the middle and high school levels and strengthening Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, according to the Post.

She listed fully funding special education as a key goal in a candidate questionnaire. When districts pull from general funds to cover special education costs, she wrote, fewer dollars remain for priorities such as teacher pay. She also said she wants to examine teacher licensure requirements to find ways to recruit and retain educators.

Diediker's youngest daughter has a Section 504 plan for complex medical needs, the Post reported. This is Diediker's first elected office. She has served as a precinct leader since 2018, according to her questionnaire responses.

McMullen's local ties

McMullen is a business owner and attorney by training, according to the Beacon. He served on the Blue Valley school board from 2021 to 2025. During that term, the board voted in 2022 to remove him as vice president over now-deleted social media posts about transgender issues, the Post reported. McMullen stood by those posts and has said he believes "gender ideology" harms children, according to the Post. He lost a reelection bid for his Blue Valley board seat in 2025.

He also served on the board of the Overland Park Chamber of Commerce and defeated former state board member Steve Roberts in the August Republican primary.

After the results came in, McMullen told the Post he plans to keep advocating for his positions.

Board balance shifts slightly

Diediker was the only Democrat elected among five open state board seats. Republicans won the other four. Once new members take office, the 10-member board will hold a 6-4 Republican majority, the Post reported.

The board sets education policy for Kansas public K-12 schools, establishes academic standards, oversees educator licensure and appoints the statewide education commissioner.

Patty Logan, chair of Stand Up Blue Valley, a pro-public education advocacy group in southern Johnson County, said in a statement that District 3 voters "decisively elected the most qualified and pro-public education candidate," according to the Post.

Diediker is set to take her seat in January.