The first week of February is behind us, and we have completed the 4th week of the 2025 Legislative session. Several bills were heard this week that won’t help public education. Tax exempt scholarship bills were heard in both Education Committees this week. HB 2136 was heard in House Education on Wednesday (2/5), and SB 87 was heard in Senate Education on Thursday (2/6). The bills are identical. The bills expand student eligibility to receive tax credit scholarships, increase the amount that goes into the fund, and raise the amount of tax credits a donor can receive. If these changes are enacted, the program can no longer be considered a way to help “low income” students. Four new categories of eligibility are opened up with no income limits. If a recipient’s family qualifies once, they maintain eligibility no matter how high their income goes. Foster and kinship care is now included no matter the income, as are military, EMS, firefighters, and other first responders.

Also heard this week was SB 48. On Friday (2/7), Senate Education heard the bill that requires school districts to demonstrate improvement in academic performance and be in compliance with federal and state statutes to achieve or maintain accreditation. There was considerable back and forth by proponents (KPI) and opponents on what is considered a State School Board responsibility on accreditation. Prior to closing the hearing, Chair Renee Erickson told those attending and observing that her teacher friends tell her that administrators are the reason teachers are leaving the profession.

House Appropriations Committee members were hard at work this week preparing a final budget to recommend to the full House. The committee worked many hours this week. The Governor recommended $72 million for Special Education. The committee decided to put in $30 million for SPED. Not only are we losing Special Education funds that were recommended, we lost other things as well. One concerning thing is that the K-12 Education Budget Committee recommended the following, with Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee, Kristy Williams leading the charge to cut public education further. In my opinion, it was really a slap in the face to Chairman Jason Goetz of K-12 Budget Committee and the entire committee for the work they did.

Other things cut that the committee recommended:

The recommendation to add $2 million to the Safe & Secure Grant program- Eliminated.
Adding $2 million to help cover costs for breakfast and lunch for at-risk kids- Eliminated.
Adding $1.3 million for SparkWheel- Eliminated.
Adding $4700,000 for Mentor Teacher Program- Eliminated.
Adding $300,000 for Career and Technical Ed Transportation- Eliminated
Adding $250,000 for the CPR and AED instruction grant fund- Eliminated
Adding $170,000 for State Board of Education members’ compensation- Eliminated (Although Legislators received a raise this year).
The committee also requested that the Appropriations Committee consider adding $10 million for childcare grants by the Children’s Cabinet. This was tabled.

Bills being heard this week:

Monday, February 10

House Education- HB 2139- This bill will raise the bid limit from $20,000 to $50,000. It will be heard on Monday and worked on Wednesday. This bill was sponsored by USA-Kansas.
Senate Education- SB 76- This bill would require employees of school districts and postsecondary institutions to use names and pronouns consistent with a student's biological sex and birth certificate.

Tuesday, February 11

House Education- HB 2299- This bill would prohibit discriminatory practices on the basis of religion at public educational institutions and authorize the attorney general to investigate.
Senate Education- SB 47- This bill would require school districts to publicly list the names and email addresses of current school board members; authorizes local school board members to add new items to board meeting discussions, ask questions or engage in discussion with members of the public and access school property; authorizes members of the public to address school boards at board meetings; and authorizes payment of annual dues to any not-for-profit organization that provides services to members’ school districts.

Wednesday, February 12

Senate Education- SB 45- This bill would exclude students who transfer to homeschools or nonaccredited private schools from the alternative calculation of graduation rates for virtual schools.
Senate Education- SB 114- This bill would authorize nonpublic and virtual school students to participate in ancillary public school activities and make it unlawful for the KSHSAA and school districts to discriminate against such students based on enrollment status.
K-12 House Education Budget- HB 2303- This bill would establish the division of longitudinal data in the legislative research department. The data system would be used for the purpose of tracking and analyzing education, workforce, and related data.

Thursday, February 13

K-12 House Education Budget- HB 2320- This bill would authorize children in the custody of the Department for Children and Families to attend school in any school district, requiring records for such students to be transferred timely between school districts, and requiring a transportation plan if the child remains in the school of origin.

Friday, February 14

No hearings scheduled at this time. Happy Valentine’s Day!

I want to remind everyone that at any time a committee chair may bring a bill to the committee to work. Voucher bills are out there waiting to be worked. Please contact your legislator to let them know your thoughts on pending legislation.

Dr. Jim Karleskint
Lobbyist, USA-Kansas
jimkarleskint@yahoo.com

MARCH 2025

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AASA UPDATE ON DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION EXECUTIVE ORDER - MARCH 6, 2025

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