Ballot City
Topeka
Personal Biography
Keith Tatum is a native Kansan, born in Manhattan and raised in Topeka. Keith has dedicated his career to public service and in empowering every voice within our community. His professional experience includes nonprofit administration and 20+ years of diverse leadership capacities in Kansas government, including for the Kansas Council on Developmental Disabilities, the Kansas Volunteer Commission, the Kansas Department of Education, the Kansas Neurological Institute, and the Kansas Department
Education
MPA - University of Kansas. BA - Washburn University.
Continuing to prepare our three- and four-year olds for elementary school by providing them with Pre-K educational opportunities. Kindergarten teachers can tell on the very first day which students have had a Pre-K experience and which ones have not.
Keeping our high school graduation rates high. Currently, rates are in the 90th percentile, higher than the average graduation rates across Kansas.
Supporting our elementary students to be as successful as possible on the third grade reading and math assessments. If our kids don't do well on this test, they will likely have a very difficult time with the remainder of their education and will be at risk for entering the "school-to-prison" pipeline.
I have spent the past four years as an active member of the USD 501 Board of Education, learning and contributing as much as possible during this time. I served as Board President during 2024, nominated and elected by my peers on the school board. Additionally, my experience teaching and developing courses at the university-level gives me great insight on what our classroom teachers experience regarding lesson-planning, evaluating progress, and supporting struggling students.
Support our teachers and administrators to do their best work in providing for the education of our students. We have great professionals doing this work and who are dedicated to the job. We need to continue to provide the resources and means for them to make public education the best it can be.
Provide for public education will working to keep the costs as low as possible for the taxpayers. The price of education is becoming more expensive, but I believe we should continue to look for methods of streamlining costs and allocating wisely as part of good public financial stewardship.
