There will be a lot of fast action this week! Here are a few of the scheduled bills:

Sub for SB113 – K-12 funding once again paired with policy

The K-12 Budget Committee is once again pairing unpopular policy with K-12 funding in an effort to get the policy passed. They gutted Senate bill SB 113 and used it as a shell to insert and amend the contents of the governor’s proposed education budget, creating bill Sub for SB 113 that:

• Includes school funding for years 2023-2025; inflation increases required by the Gannon Supreme Court case.
• Removes the Special Education increase as they are trying to attach the needed SPED increase to other bills as an incentive to push through voucher programs.
• Removed a Parents as Teachers funding enhancement; funding comes from the Children Initiatives Fund (state share of Tobacco Settlement) not the general fund; a disappointing move.
• Added an open enrollment fix to ensure teachers’ children can attend the school where they teach. This was a good stand alone bill to support teachers.
• Added requirement for a public “parent portal” on district websites detailing curriculum, required reading, and more. This is unnecessary as parents can already access this information. This just opens up scrutiny from non-parents pushing for book banning and censorship. Note: There is no such requirement in voucher programs for private or home schools.
• Added a requirement that public schools allow nonpublic students to participate in school sports/activities.

This bill will be sent to the Senate for a simple up (concur) or down (non-concur) vote. 

Please write your Senator, contact information can be found here

More information can be found here: 

Here is a sample email:

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SB83 – Vouchers and Special Education funding

This is the bill that started out as an Education Savings Account (ESA) bill in the Senate but was then later stripped of its contents by the House K-12 Budget Committee. The Committee then added the House version of an ESA as well as funding for Special Education and a mandate to increase teacher pay with no additional funding. Because it had already passed the Senate when it was stripped it will now go to Conference Committee where 6 legislators (3 from the House and 3 from the Senate) debate what should be included in the bill. Once passed out of Conference Committee the bills are again on the floors of both chambers but only for a simple up or down vote. Please write to both the Conference Committee members and your legislator and ask them to fund special education on its own, without linking it to a bill that is controversial.  As it stands in the House version the voucher program would pay $5,000 per student per year to attend nonpublic and unaccredited schools for families making upwards of $180,000 per year for a family of four.

Kansas children deserve a clean bill that funds special education at the legal requirement of 92%. 

Please contact the members of the Conference Committee as well as your legislators in both the Senate and House.

Conference Committee members:

kristey.williams@house.ks.gov

brenda.landwehr@house.ks.gov

valdenia.winn@house.ks.gov

Molly.Baumgardner@senate.ks.gov

Renee.Erickson@senate.ks.gov

Dinah.Sykes@senate.ks.gov

You can look up your legislator here

Contact information for Douglas County legislators, and leadership, can be found here

Learn more about special education funding here

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SB128 – public money for private schools

Remember this voucher-type bill? It failed to make it out of committee but was once again taken up at the end of last week, and this time it passed out of committee. This bill presents a new form of ‘voucher’ program for Kansas. It provides a tax credit of $5100 (or the current base state aid per pupil) for anyone who sends their kids to an accredited or non-accredited private school. To qualify as a school under the non-accredited category, it appears the “school” just needs to be registered with the Kansas State Department of Education. So, any homeschool would suffice, and in Kansas there is no oversight or academic requirements for homeschools.

Here are some points:

Public schools are economic drivers. Businesses and families look for quality public schools when relocating.

Using public dollars for private schools drains the public schools of needed resources for successful student learning.

Public tax dollars belong with our public schools who accept and educate all kids.

Next step for this bill is the floor of the Senate. Please contact your Senator as well as Senate leadership.

You can look up your legislator here

Contact information for Douglas County legislators, and leadership, can be found here

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HB2236 – Parental Right Bill

This is a stripped-down version of last year’s bill. It started as an anti-CRT movement, and we can look to other states, such as Texas and Florida, to see the effects of such trends. Many of these stated ‘rights’ are already in place, and parents already have access to their student’s teachers and educational materials. One section of the bill would allow parents to remove their students from lessons or activities that impair their beliefs, values or principals.

The legislature should value the instructional expertise of educators and the governance expertise of district leaders by prioritizing and protecting local control.

This bill is also likely to be heard on the floor of the Senate this week. Please contact your Senator as well as Senate leadership. You can find their contact information here

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HB2238 – the Transgender Sports bill

This bill passed out of both the Senate and House and was sent to Governor Kelly. The bill passed out of the Senate with enough votes to override a veto and was within one vote in the House, with 3 members absent. The Governor vetoed the bill on Friday, March 17 and a vote to override the veto could be taken this week. Please write your legislators in both the House and Senate and spread the word to friends and family in other districts in Kansas.

You can look up your legislator here

Contact information for Douglas County legislators, and leadership, can be found here