Legislative Priorities

Lawrence Board of Education
2025-2026 Legislative Priorities

Universal public education is the bedrock of our democracy and is a fundamental right that provides each child the opportunity to reach that child’s potential.

Lawrence Public Schools recognizes the importance of making and supporting significant shifts in mindset and practice to provide and sustain equitable outcomes for all students. We aim to eliminate the opportunity gap. Children, regardless of race, socioeconomic status, and/or other minoritized identities, should be able to freely access the resources and supports necessary to reach their fullest potential. Lawrence Public Schools is committed to continuous academic growth and high achievement for students of all races, backgrounds, and abilities so that students graduate on time prepared for success in college and careers.

KEY PRIORITIES FOR THE 2026 LEGISLATIVE SESSION

Lawrence Public Schools urges legislators to prioritize the following policies:

• Fully fund special education as required by current state law. See K.S.A 72-3422. Special education funding must cover the actual cost of providing necessary services to each and every one of our students with an IEP. With a significant state budget surplus, the continued refusal by the Kansas Legislature to pay for the actual services students need to succeed is a moral, ethical, and policymaking failure by our current legislative leadership.
   
• Increase base state aid per pupil to a level that closes the 25% educator pay gap and allows districts to pay competitive wages to support staff. Again, school funding must be tied to the actual, inflation-adjusted costs needed to achieve state requirements for student achievement.
   
• Reject all proposals to spend public tax dollars on private education, whether through vouchers, ESAs, tuition tax credits, or other direct or indirect vehicles that redirect state general fund dollars to support private or parochial schools.
   
• Value the instructional expertise of educators and the governance expertise of district leaders by prioritizing and protecting local control. Reject calls to proscribe management and teaching practices and procedures in statute. Flexibility at the district level to respond to local circumstances and implement best practices based on those circumstances is essential to achieving the outcomes our educational leaders expect, and our students and families deserve.
   
• Broadly embrace academic freedom and the teaching of critical thinking skills in public schools by rejecting calls to limit what teachers can teach, what materials they can use to teach, and the methods that professional educators can use to support students. This freedom is integral to supporting and maintaining the district’s strong relationships with parents as partners in their children’s education.
   
• Return local control to elected boards of education and their voters to collect data to support the learning needs of students in our community.
   
• Repeal and reject discriminatory statutes that target and discriminate against students and staff and that compromise their safety, dignity, and individual integrity.
   
• Provide universal meals free to all students. Reducing administrative burdens like individual applications for free and reduced meals ensures students do not go hungry and are better prepared to learn.

Good Governance Policies and Practices

These strategic goals require that the Legislature support and encourage local control and good board governance practices. To those ends, the Board of Education of Lawrence Public Schools requests that the Kansas Legislature:

• Support having school board members elected in non-partisan elections held in the spring.
   
• Support the role of an independent judiciary in enforcing constitutional provisions and oppose either changing the selection process for judges or limiting the ability of the courts to enforce these provisions, which would weaken the separation of powers in Kansas.
   
• Support the general supervision of public schools under the State Board of Education, including setting standards for accreditation, learning standards, graduation, and licensure.
   
• Support continued management of public schools under local boards of education, including setting curriculum, staffing, financial management, and policies so that such schools can progress and meet State Board standards.
   
• Support the district’s development and implementation of system-wide equity and justice strategies.
   
• Reject legislation that micromanages local boards’ operations and governance practices, or that imposes additional requirements or restrictions on boards of education that are different from those applied to other units of local government.