Rogers and Peters named finalists for 2026 Kansas Teacher of the Year award

Susan Rogers and Jason Peters were named Region 4 finalists for the 2026 Kansas Teacher of the Year award at a ceremony in Wichita on April 12. Rogers, a first-grade teacher at Derby Hills Elementary School, and Peters, a mathematics teacher at Hesston High School, are recognized for their excellent teaching in Kansas's elementary and secondary classrooms.

The announcement was made at the KTOY Region 4 awards banquet hosted at the Wichita Marriott Hotel. Both teachers will receive a $2,000 cash award from Security Benefit, the major corporate partner of the KTOY program, and are now eligible for the Kansas Teacher of the Year title, which will be announced on September 20 in Wichita.

Rogers and Peters were among six semifinalists from Region 4, covering Kansas’s 4th U.S. congressional district. Other semifinalists included Shanda Busby from Challenger Intermediate School, Todd Flory from Wheatland Elementary School, Jamie Sundgren from Flinthills Middle School, and Lacey Woods from Andover Central High School. Each semifinalist will receive a red marble apple with a wooden base from The Master Teacher in Manhattan.

The Kansas State Department of Education sponsors the KTOY program and oversees the nomination process, which attracts candidates from four regions across the state. Each region selects six semifinalists, and from those, one elementary and one secondary finalist are chosen. The Kansas Teacher of the Year is selected from the eight regional finalists and may become eligible for the National Teacher of the Year, a program by the Council of Chief State School Officers with the Voya Foundation.

The KTOY program's mission is to build a network of exemplary teachers who are leaders in educational improvement and to promote the teaching profession throughout Kansas. Members of the Kansas Teacher of the Year team serve as education ambassadors statewide.