KNEA regularly sends out reviews of the Legislative session and of legislative issues impacting public schools, teachers and students.

Be Engaged in the Process

Members can get engaged by signing up for Under the Dome , our electronic report from the Capitol issued daily during the session and on occasion throughout the year.

Consider a KNEA/USA Lobby Day trip to Topeka. Two days are assigned to each UniServ District during the session through a cooperative effort with the United School Administrators (USA) of Kansas. Get in contact with your local president, your UniServ Director or your UniServ President and let them know you want to participate.

Take advantage of our legislative alert system and use it to email your legislator on critical votes during the session. The alerts are embedded in Under the Dome, are posted here on our website, and are emailed to anyone who has used the system before. You can send emails to state and federal legislators, plus news media!

Talk to your local and UniServ leaders about getting local legislators to visit with the Association or take the time to go to forums back home to keep legislators on their toes. Legislators needs to hear from teachers, administrators, support personnel and parents every time they come to town!

The end of the session

This week’s links:

What did those conference committees do?

Read any conference committee report brief at the Legislative Research Department website:

Click here for the list of Conference Committee Briefs.

Get the latest Post Audit reports on K-12 education issues!

Click here for K-12 Education: Reviewing Issues Related to Virtual Schools

Click here for K-12 Education: Reviewing the Staff Recruitment and Retention Strategies Used by Kansas School Districts

School issues:

Education policy pieces collapsed into various conference committee reports

You’ll remember all the reporting we did on conference committee meetings before the April recess. Well, those conference committee reports have moved through the process and five of them have been adopted.

CCRB 68:

This bill would remove the sunset on non-proficient at-risk weighting, require schools to adopt anti-bullying policies and implement a strategic plan to address bullying, require the KSDE to assist school districts who want to implement a character development program, simplify the LOB language in statute, and let schools experiencing a disaster to keep the same level of non-proficient at-risk weighting as they had in the previous year.

CCRB 138:

This bill establishes the “Kansas Autism Task Force,” a 24-member group charged with studying issues related to the needs and services available to people with autism and making a report to the Legislative Educational Planning Committee by November 15, 2007.
 

CCRB 2310:

This bill contains the so-called “Lawrence fix” which allows schools that implemented cost of living or declining enrollment weightings to continue to levy a tax at a rate that would generate the same amount of revenue as was generated in 2006-07 as long as their LOB equals or exceeds the amount adopted in 2006-07.

The bill also calls upon the Legislative Educational Planning Committee and the 2010 Commission to study and make recommendations on early childhood education.

They must:

• Prepare a plan which recommends establishment of the Office of Early Childhood Education,
• Develop a coordinated and comprehensive system for the delivery of early childhood education,
• Identify priorities, barriers, and gaps in service,
• Facilitate interagency and interdepartmental cooperation,
• Encourage and facilitate joint planning between the public and private sectors,
• Make recommendations for design of a universal application form, and
• Evaluate and report on the performance and cost effectiveness of early childhood education services.

CCRB 2185:

This bill includes SB 22 and SB 23, two teacher scholarship bills that would consolidate a variety of teacher scholarships into one program and also provide competitive matching grants to institutions of higher education who need to expand teacher preparation programs as a result.

The bill also provides that persons who once lived in Kansas and return within 60 months would be eligible for resident tuition at a state institute of higher education.

Higher Ed Issues:

Technical Ed Commission to continue; new “authority” to work under Regents

CCRB 2556:

This bill would extend the Kansas Technical College and Technical School Commission through December 31, 2008.

In addition, it establishes the Postsecondary Technical Education Authority under the Board of Regents to coordinate statewide planning, review technical education programs, review requests for funding, develop benchmarks and accountability indicators, advocate a policy agenda for technical education, and study ways to maximize resources to best meet the needs of business and industry.

The bill also requires the governing bodies of the Northeast Kansas Technical College, Kansas City Area Technical College, Kaw Area Technical School, Salina Area Technical School, and Southwest Kansas Technical School to submit a plan to merge or affiliate with a postsecondary education institution, or become an accredited technical college with an independent governing board by July 1, 2008.

Deferred maintenance gets a “down payment”

CCRB Sen Sub for HB 2237:

After each chamber had passed a deferred maintenance plan for higher education – plans that were millions of dollars apart – a conference committee got together and more or less “split the difference.”

In conference, House and Senate negotiators crafted a compromise measure valued at $410 million over five years – a plan still well short of the $663 million the Regents say is needed to repair and refurbish their old buildings.

The compromise plan sets aside $90 million in state revenues over five years to take on the needs of state university campuses. Beginning July 1, 2008, it implements $62.5 million in tax credits over four years to leverage $120 million in private donations to universities, community colleges, technical colleges, and Washburn University. It also allows the state to issue $20 million in bonds each year for five years.

The compromise went to the Senate first where it was adopted after debate on a vote of 30 – 8. Those Senators voting against the plan did so for one of two reasons: either they did not support the Regents’ request believing that the backlog of projects was due to bad budgeting by the Universities more than the failure of the state to maintain higher education funding or they did not believe passage of this measure would address the needs of the Universities. Those who believe the latter called this bill a “false promise” to our institutions of higher education.

The House adopted the plan without debate on a vote of 102 – 20.

KPERS Issues:

CCRB 362:

This bill implements a different benefit structure for KPERS retirees hired on or after July 1, 2009.

This bill also contains the “semi-COLA” or “diet COLA” for current retirees. Any KPERS current retiree with 10 years of service who has been retired for 10 years will receive a $300 cost of living one-time COLA. This will apply to about half of all current KPERS retirees.

CCRB 2457:

This bill makes four changes to KPERS statutes:

• Ensure that partial  lump sum distributions from KPERS are place in other tax sheltered investments (technical change requested by KPERS),
• Permit purchase of service credit for breaks in service when serving in UN peace-keeping missions,
• Makes an adjustment in the Police and Fire retirement system benefiting disabled members, and
• Prohibits investment in certain companies with business operations in Sudan.

Budget bill contains some important education appropriations

CCRB House Sub for SB 357:

While education was basically covered in the “lock box” passed earlier in the session to cover the costs of years two and three in the school finance plan passed in 2006, there were some needed school funding adjustments in the omnibus budget bill.

Here are several of those adjustments:

$16,251,000:  Funds school finance adjustments for general and supplemental general state aid in fiscal year 2008.

$16.1 million: From the state general fund, to fund special education excess costs at the 92.0 percent level in fiscal year 2008.

$40,558: Funds one position at the State Department of Education to assist school districts in developing policies and designing and implementing bullying prevention and character development programs (see SB 68).

$500,000:   Additional funding for Mentor Teacher Program Grants in fiscal year 2008. This will fund the second year of mentoring, providing stipends to mentor teachers.

$3.0 million: Partially restores funding for the expansion of the Pre-K pilot program.

The end-of-the-session legislation graveyard

Criminalizing English teachers (and others)

An amendment to the obscenity laws that would have removed the defense of educational merit from K-12 teachers when a parent decided to challenge teaching materials proposed by Rep. Lance Kinzer (R-Olathe) made it out of the House Federal and State Affairs Committee but was referred to the House Education Committee by the full House. Education Committee members would not give the bill a hearing.

Transportation changes

Two proposed changes to student transportation statutes died. One by Sen. Phil Journey (R-Wichita) would allow buses to cross district lines to pick up students who want to go to another district. This was district raiding issue allowing districts to recruit athletes or gifted children from each other. This did not make it out of committee.

The second proposal by Rep. Clay Aurand (R-Courtland) would have changed the ten-mile rule that requires students to live at least 10 miles away from their own school and less than 10 miles from a school in a neighboring district before the neighboring district can pick the child up. The proposal would have deleted the requirement that the home school be at least 10 miles away. This passed the House but not the Senate.

Corporal punishment

This proposal by Sen. Phil Journey (R-Wichita) would supposedly have given immunity to teachers administering corporal punishment. Other attorneys disagreed. It did not come out of committee.

No higher education for children of illegals

A Rep. Lance Kinzer (R-Olathe) proposal to strip illegal aliens of benefits that they cannot get under current law also would have stripped their children of in-state tuition rates and, in the analysis of KNEA and KASB, of the right to even attend a Kansas postsecondary institution. The bill made it out of the House Federal and State Affairs Committee but was turned back by the full House when it was referred to the Judiciary Committee.

Mandatory kindergarten

Sen. Laura Kelly (D-Topeka) proposed lowering the compulsory attendance age to six (it is now seven) and requiring Kindergarten attendance. The bill did not make it out of committee.

Required gifted training for all teachers

Rep. Geraldine Flaharty (D-Wichita) carried this bill on behalf of parents of gifted students. It would have required all prospective teachers to take a class on gifted education prior to graduation and all current teachers to take a class on gifted education for their next license renewal. It was decided that this issue was better sent to the State Board of Education. It did not come out of committee.

Linear transition for high density at-risk

An LEPC proposal to change the high-density at-risk weighting to a linear transition from its current stair-step approach was considered. Under the high-density at-risk as originally passed a district that has just over 50% poverty could lose thousands of dollars in funding if they lose just a couple of students in poverty or gain a couple of non-poverty students.

The bill got bogged down in a debate over how to appropriate funds for various categorical areas and, despite widespread support for the linear transition, it did not pass.

Elimination of the mandatory LOB election to go over 30%

Some legislators tried to lift the requirement that there be a mandatory election to increase the LOB above 30%. A conference committee agreed to this idea but the full House disagreed. There is still a required election if a district wishes to take the LOB above 30%. The new maximum is 32%.

Reviewing what passed

HB 2159; military second count date

Districts seeing increases in student population due to an influx of military families will once again be able to have a second count date on February 20. The federal Base Realignment and Closure Act is bringing many new families to Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley.

SB 109; paying teachers before September

An obsolete statute that prohibits the paying of teachers before September has been repealed. This created a particular problem for new teachers who might begin work in early August but could not be paid until the first regularly scheduled pay date in September.

SB 129; school safety and security act change

This change ensures that schools and law enforcement have a manageable timeline in reporting violations of the act to the motor vehicle department and that student rights are protected.

This week’s links:

What did those conference committees do?

Read any conference committee report brief at the Legislative Research Department website:

Click here for the list of Conference Committee Briefs.

Conference committee briefs are not posted until acted upon.

Read the details of the new KPERS plan for future teachers and state employees

Click here to read the KPERS issue brief on the plan.

Special Note: current employees would not be under this plan! Your plan can only be changed if a change includes a benefit enhancement!

School issues:

Conference Committees Consolidate Concepts

Bills, bills, bills. A veritable plethora of bills faced the House and Senate negotiators as they went to conference over education.

Out there for consideration were:

• HB 2310, bullying
• SB 68, non-proficient at-risk continuation
• SB 143, simplifying the LOB statute
• SB 153, property consolidation in Stafford County
• SB 329, property consolidation in Cherokee County
• SB 69, COLA and declining enrollment hold harmless
• SB 2343, early high school graduation incentive
• SB 384, the early childhood study commission
• HB 2185, in-state tuition if you return to Kansas within five years
• SB 22, grants to universities for teacher education
• SB 23, consolidation of teacher scholarship programs

April 3 & 4, 2007

9:00 a.m. – The Senate 2310 Package

The first conference committee was a pure Education Conference Committee with Representatives Aurand, Horst, and Storm and Senators Schodorf, Vratil, and Lee.

This group considered a Vratil proposal that they create a 2310 package consisting of HB 2310, SB 68, SB 143, SB 153, SB 329, and an amendment by Senator Taddiken to hold school districts that have suffered from disasters harmless on non-proficient at-risk weighting (this was a reaction to Seneca but would apply to any school district).

The House viewed this as all Senate and no House so no agreement was made except on how to amend the character education idea into HB 2310.

1:00 p.m. – The House 2310 Package

Upon returning at 1:00, the House negotiators (minus Clay Aurand) offered their own 2310 package consisting of HB 2310 with the character education language agreed to, the House version of SB 69, SB 143, and HB 2343 with a five year sunset.

After some back and forth the House agreed to a package with HB 2310, SB 68, SB 143, and the “Seneca amendment.”

Within this context, there were rumors circulating that House Leadership had removed Rep. Aurand from the conference committee. Some speculated that Aurand had been removed from a conference committee on SB 68 and replaced by Majority Leader Ray Merrick.

Since Aurand was not present for the conference committee there arose the question as to whether or not the report could even be drafted. As it is said, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?” So also, “If the chairman was not there, was there a committee meeting?” And if not, can a report be written?

2:00 p.m. – The Post-Secondary Conference Committee

Adding to the intrigue of the Education Conference Committee was the Ways and Means/Education Conference Committee meeting on HB 2185. This conference committee made up of Senators from Ways and Means (Umbarger, Emler, and Kelly) and Representatives from Education (Aurand, Horst, and Storm) was set to meet at 2:00.

At issue was HB 2185 allowing in-state tuition for former Kansans who return to the state within five years. The Senators proposed amending SB 24 (amending the medical student loan act increasing a stipend to $2000), SB 25 (the nurse educator scholarship act), SB 22 (competitive grants for universities expanding teacher preparation programs), and SB 23 (consolidating educator scholarship programs).

Any problems? The House members were not there for the conference committee meeting! It seems that nothing in this bill was particularly controversial so the report was ultimately written.

4:00 p.m. – The JoCo Conference Committee?

It just got weirder.

At 4:00 the Senate Education Conferees met with what can only be described as the House Johnson County conferees (Ray Merrick, Sheryl Spalding, and Sue Storm) to discuss Senate Bill 23. It was decided that since the contents of SB 23 (teacher scholarships) had been rolled into HB 2185 by the 2:00 conference committee (see above), SB 23 could be gutted and have some other idea put into it.

Senator Vratil suggested putting in an increase in the LOB to 32% subject to protest petition and election. This also exists as a proviso in the budget conference committee report. Not surprisingly the House members were okay with this. They discussed what to do about the mandatory election to move from 30% to 31%. In the end, the conference committee report was drafted to eliminate the mandatory election

At the same time, yet another version of the conference committee – this one made up of Senate education conferees plus Representatives Merrick, Horst, and Storm – had been meeting to hash out Senate Bill 68. This group decided to draft a report that includes the extension of non-proficient at-risk funding (SB 68), the simplified LOB language (SB 143), the bullying bill with the modified character education language (HB 2310, amended), and the Taddiken amendment on non-proficient at risk hold harmless in school districts suffering from disasters (the Seneca amendment).

You’ll probably notice that this version of SB 68 is exactly the same as the earlier version of HB 2310 worked by a different education conference committee at 1:00 (see above). Since HB 2310 was wrapped up in the intrigue of the removal of Rep. Aurand from the conference committee, the new conferees had to do the same thing in a different way. SB 68 is the result.

But all those reports…still in limbo

So, with all of this, there are now three conference committee reports to be debated and adopted or rejected:

• CCRB HB 2185 State Resident Tuition Requirements
• CCRB SB 23 LOB
• CCRB SB 68 Non-proficient at-risk, et. al.

Normally, when conference committee reports are written, they are sent to the chambers for adoption. But in the case of these three, that was not what happened.

Both chambers adjourned between 2:30 and 3:00 a.m. without taking action.

So there the reports sit – in limbo – until the legislature returns for the veto session on April 25.

Most critical unresolved issue – the mandatory LOB election

What started out as a no-brainer has ended up mired in debate and controversy.

A glitch in the school finance formula relative to the Cost of Living Weighting had been proposed to be fixed very early in the session. Here’s how it goes:

In order to access the COLA, a district must be at the maximum LOB (30% this year, 31% next year). Both the COLA and the LOB are subject to protest petition and election. But moving to 31% LOB requires a mandatory election. This means that a school district that was at 30%, got the COLA without a protest petition, will have to go to 32% LOB next year and must hold an election. If the election fails, the district will lose not just the additional LOB but the COLA money already being levied and used.

KNEA along with most other education lobbyists supported the elimination of the mandatory election or, at the very least, grandfathering in the three districts that have the COLA.

Senate Bill 69, known as the “Lawrence fix,” would have solved the problem by reducing the LOB requirement from the maximum to 25%. The House amended it to simply grandfather in those already with the COLA but still require the maximum LOB for those wishing to access it in the future.

Senate negotiators dug in as did the House. As a result SB 69 has stalled and is now dead.

The fix now is in the conference committee report on SB 23 which eliminates the mandatory election but also increases the LOB to 32%.

Will this pass? It’s iffy. The Senate earlier in the session rejected a bill to eliminate the mandatory election on a vote of 15-25. In addition, the increase in LOB has many opponents in both chambers.

This is the report to watch on April 25.

Higher Ed Issues:

Conference Committee Confirms Continuing Commission

About midnight last night a conference committee began meeting to discuss the two tech college bills. HB 2014 extends the life of the Technical College and Vocational Education Commission while HB 2556 creates the Technical Education Authority under the Board of Regents.

This committee was made up of mostly education committee members with two differences. Instead of Rep. Sue Storm, the House appointed Rep. Ann Mah to work with Clay Aurand and Deena Horst. On the Senate side, instead of Sen. John Vratil, the Senate appointed Sen. Ruth Teichman to work with Jean Schodorf and Janis Lee.

In HB 2014 the Senate had added 2 people – one from the community college trustees and another who must be a resident of Douglas, Johnson, Leavenworth, or Wyandotte County to give a northeast Kansas presence to the Commission. These changes generated little discussion.

HB 2556 was a bit more complex.

Both sides agreed on clarifying language for the implementation of the Authority’s decisions.

The Senate had expanded membership to 12 from 9 and had five of them appointed by the Governor. The House prefered to have the four legislative leaders (Senate President and Minority Leader; Speaker of the House and Minority Leader) make those appointments. In the end they gave three appointees to the Governor, one to the Senate President and one to the Speaker of the House.

There was also some significant discussion about the role of the Kansas Association of Community College Trustees and Kansas Association of Technical Schools and Colleges. These discussions ranged from the appointment of their own representatives to the Authority to their role in the selection of an Executive Director.

The two bills were put into HB 2556.

But that report…still in limbo

Yes, just like the other education conference committee reports, this one was not acted on last night.

Look for action on April 25.

KPERS Issues:

Returning Retirees Retain Reduced Respect

Last year the Legislature stripped retired teachers who return to work from the definition of “professional employee” thereby stripping them of any salary, benefit or working condition guarantees.

KNEA, working with Rep. Geraldine Flaharty (D-Wichita), tried to get this action reversed this year. Flaharty offered an amendment in the KPERS Select Committee and again on the House floor that would have put these professionals back in the definition. Both attempts failed. Rep. Bill Feuerborn (D-Garnett) tried the amendment in the House Appropriations KPERS Subcommittee but it was not approved there either.  

Flaharty offered the amendment on the floor as the House debated SB 362, the second tier KPERS benefit structure for new employees. After Flaharty rose to offer her amendment she was followed by Bill Otto (R-Leroy) and John Grange (R-El Dorado) who argued it was good to keep these teachers out of the definition and Ann Mah (D-Topeka), Annie Tietze (D-Topeka) and Dale Swenson (R-Wichita) who argued for fair treatment of teachers and bargaining rights.

On a requested roll call vote, the amendment failed 49-70. Five Republicans joined 44 Democrats in supporting teachers while only one Democrat voted against the amendment.

The five Republicans who supported teachers on the vote were Rocky Fund (Hoyt), Don Hill (Emporia ), Deena Horst (Salina ), Tim Owens (Overland Park ), and Dale Swenson (Wichita ).

The lone Democrat to vote against restoring these teachers to the definition of professional employee was Tom Hawk (Manhattan ).

Democrat Cindy Neighbor (Shawnee ) did not vote; Democrat Marti Crow (Leavenworth ) was absent.

This maintains the loophole in the law that allows only school districts to pass the KPERS rates on to retired employees who return to work. While the law says the employer shall make the KPERS contribution, school districts can pass that on to the employee through reduced salary or benefits.

Passage of the Flaharty amendment would have restored professional status to these retired professionals and had no cost to the state.

Semi-COLA reduced, passed

The House, you’ll recall, attached what can only be described as a “semi-COLA” to SB 362, sending the bill to conference.

The amendment by Rep. Harold Lane (D-Topeka) would provide a one time $500 payment to KPERS retirees who have 10 years of service credit and have been retired for 10 or more years. Payment for this “COLA” would come right from KPERS in 2007 with a requirement that the state pay it back in 2008.

In conference, Senate negotiators were put in a difficult bind. How does one advocate the elimination of any COLA for retirees? But the Senators were worried about the $12 million the state would have to repay in 2008.

As a compromise, Senate negotiators reduced the COLA to $300 with a promise to reconsider the additional $200 in the veto session after the next revenue estimates. The House agreed and a conference committee report was written.

Two-tiered system gets overwhelming approval

With the COLA issue resolved, SB 362 went back to both chambers for adoption.

The House approved the bill on a vote of 116 – 3; the Senate said “yes” 37 – 3. The bill now goes to the Governor for her signature.

Click here to read the KPERS document comparing the two benefit plans.

Gamble Goofs! Guys and Gals Go Ga-Ga over Gaming!

“Barnett found out that a blackjack table isn’t the only place where you take it in the shorts if the opposition draws 21.”  Ric Anderson in the Topeka Capital Journal

March 28, 2007; a day that will live in Kansas  history!

That morning the Senate had handled a few sports team resolutions and then, about 10:45 took up SB 66 – the expanded gaming bill. Senator John Vratil moved to concur in the House amendments and Senator Pete Brungardt immediately offered a substitute motion to non-concur and form a conference committee. This was a planned procedural movement to make sure the bill got into a conference committee.

After much contentious debate, the motion to non-concur passed but Senator Jim Barnett – an ardent gambling opponent – made a subsequent motion to concur. It seems that the bill would not be in conference until the House got the notice of the Senate action and acceded to the request for a conference committee. Because of this, gaming proponents immediately launched a filibuster to keep the vote from happening before the House took action.

It certainly appeared at that time that there were not enough votes in the Senate to pass the bill out. At least that’s the impression one got from the initial maneuver.

While the Senate filibuster was intended to stall a vote on the Barnett motion to concur until the House acted, House leadership appeared to be sitting put waiting until the Senate gave up.

Senator Marci Francisco (D-Lawrence) held the floor for over three hours at one point telling her colleagues that as a child she had won an endurance contest proving she was the girl who could stand the longest with her arms outstretched.

The high point of the filibuster was probably when Senator David Wysong (R-Mission Hills) read the rules of blackjack, Texas hold-em, and craps!

Sounding exhausted after over 12 continuous hours, the gaming filibuster came to an end at 11:15 p.m. when Senator David Wysong (R-Mission Hills) was told by his fellow gaming proponents to halt his reading of gambling statutes.

Through the long night we heard studies on gambling, listened to scientific treatises on evolution, seals and polygamy, and even got what sounded like a chamber of commerce Las Vegas promotional brochure read. It was an experience not soon to be forgotten.

When Senator Wysong stopped, the filibuster was over and Senator Jim Barnett (R-Emporia) closed on his motion to concur in the House amendments to SB 66.

A roll call vote was called for and the preliminary count came to 21 in favor, 16 against with three senators absent. A “call of the Senate” was then imposed. The doors were closed, Senators were told to get in their seats, and a search went out for the three missing lawmakers – Senators Les Donovan (R-Wichita), Karin Brownlee (R-Olathe), and Nick Jordan (R-Shawnee).

Under a call of the Senate, no lawmaker may leave the floor until the missing Senators are located and return to cast their votes. The time during a call is often used to pressure the other lawmakers who are considered swing votes to change one way or the other. This is a more common practice in the House.

With the Senate poised to concur in the House amendments to SB 66 and a call of the Senate in place, Senator Jim Barnett (R-Emporia) asked to withdraw his motion to concur.

Senate President Steve Morris (R-Hugoton) did not immediately rule and was cited a Senate rule that Senator Phil Journey (R-Wichita) believed would allow Barnett to withdraw the motion at that time.

Upon further study of the rules, Majority Leader Derek Schmidt (R-Independence) read the Senate rule and indicated that it was not clear on the issue. He also stated that when the Senate rules were vague, the Senate was directed to turn to Robert’s Rules of Order. Citing Robert’s Rules, Schmidt told the body that once the motion has been read and voting begun, it no longer belongs to the maker of the motion but to the body and the entire body would have to agree to withdraw the motion.

Journey accepted the Majority Leader’s analysis and the vote was finished.

At that time, Senator Hensley moved to reconsider the action. This is another procedural motion. The intent is to have supporters vote NO on reconsideration of the previous vote. Doing this means that the issue is over for certain and could not be reconsidered again.

Senator Susan Wagle (R-Wichita) rose to say that Speaker Neufeld had called while the vote was being taken in the Senate, and that the House had acceded to the original Senate vote to send the bill to conference. Stating that a motion to concur was always in order, President Morris indicated that the action of the House, taken when it was, was irrelevant.

Senator Tim Huelskamp (R-Meade) moved to postpone the vote on reconsideration indefinitely. Huelskamp’s motion was defeated.

Hensley’s motion to reconsider was then defeated on a voice vote.

With the Senate voting to concur in the House amendments to the SB 66 on a vote of 21 to 19, the bill now goes to the Governor who is expected to sign it into law.

An end to one of the most contentious issues in legislative history

This vote removed one of the most divisive issues of the last few years. Expanded gaming has been a major topic of concern for a number of years and generated much heated debate. Proponents cite the revenue benefit to the state that destination casinos and slots will generate and express concern that Kansans are already taking the gambling money across the borders into Oklahoma and Missouri. Opponents cite the problems of gambling addiction and its impact on individuals and families. They question whether the additional revenue is worth the social cost.

Perhaps the outcome would have been different if House Speaker Melvin Neufeld had acted to bring a motion to accede and put the bill in conference committee. Neufeld, who is an opponent of expanded gaming, first saw his chamber take this issue up on the floor over his opposition. When he had the chance to get the bill in conference and perhaps change it, he instead bottled it up in his office and let the Senate filibuster continue. In the end, Neufeld’s gamble backfired when the bill was passed in the Senate.

This is a good example of what happens when you are too confident about your votes. Had the anti-gaming forces chosen to accept putting the bill in conference they would have had the opportunity to change it. Instead, gaming opponents were confident they could defeat the bill outright and it was the opponents in the Senate who offered the amendment to concur. The opponents in the House, agreeing with their compatriots in the Senate, held up the consideration of whether or not to accede to the Senate. As a result, the bill was passed exactly as crafted in the House.

It is a very difficult subject and all Kansas legislators are to be praised for their commitment to both sides of this issue and their passion for the future of our great state.  

Your bill tracker

Bills passed…

SB 109 allowing school districts to pay employees at the first regularly scheduled pay date even if that is before September, passed both chambers and now awaits the Governor’s signature.

SB 129 is an adjustment in the school safety and security act to give districts and law enforcement more reasonable time limits and protect the rights of students. It overwhelmingly passed both chambers and now awaits the Governor’s signature.

SB 144 which extends the statewide 20 mill property tax levy for schools for another two years was rolled into a tax conference committee report on HB 2044 and adopted by both chambers.

Bills in limbo…

HB 2310, requiring schools to have policies on bullying and programs to implement those policies, passed both chambers and went to a conference committee. An amended version is in the SB 68 Conference Committee Report which will be voted on in the veto session.

HB 2185 which would allow Kansans who have left the state to return within five years and qualify for in-state tuition was amended in the Senate before being passed. It now awaits review by a House/Senate conference committee.

Bills dead…for this year

SB 69 which would allow districts to use the declining enrollment and cost of living local property taxes if they have an LOB of at least 25%. Current law requires the maximum LOB. The House amended it to simply grandfather in the districts using these weightings. The Senate negotiators dug in and the bill has not survived the conference committee process. It now depends on the passage of the conference committee report on SB 23 which will remove the mandatory election entirely.  

HB 2343, the early graduation incentive program for students going into the construction trades appears dead. Senate education negotiators would not agree to put it into any conference committee report and it has only passed one chamber.

HB 2140, declaring English to be the official language of the state but allowing schools and other units of government to continue to serve the public in other languages, passed both chambers but withered in a conference committee. Both sides dug in over the appropriation of money for ESOL classes. Count this one dead for this year

HB 2367, the anti-illegal alien bill. KNEA and KASB submitted joint testimony in opposition to this bill along with the Kansas Board of Regents, Olathe Public Schools, Kansas Methodist Women, and the Kansas Catholic Conference. The bill would not simply strip the children of undocumented workers of in-state tuition rates but would effectively ban them from even attending a Regents Institution.

The bill was referred back to the House Judiciary Committee for further study where it will wither away for this session.  

The future of KPERS… 

What are the details of the proposal on a different KPERS plan for future teachers and state employees?

Click here to read the KPERS issue brief on the plan.

Special Note: current employees would not be under this plan! Your plan can only be changed if a change includes a benefit enhancement!

Want to be a legislative know-it-all?

Stop hoping someone forwards this to you!

Subscribe to Under the Dome, KNEA’s daily legislative report.

School issues:

Salaries at Schools for Deaf, Blind

HB 2422, setting the salaries for teachers at the Kansas Schools for the Deaf and Blind to the Olathe teachers’ salary schedule passed the full House on a vote of 124-0. The bill has been proposed every year for four years by Rep. Arlen Siegfreid (R-Olathe) and, although it has never passed as is, the provision has been put into an appropriations bill. Siegfreid hopes this time the legislature will pass it and get it into law.

KNEA joined representatives of the schools in supporting the bill. KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti asked legislators to pass the bill but also consider as a long-term solution treating teachers at these two institutions the same as all other public school teachers.

Desetti told the Committee, “This bill is a fix that would not be needed if teachers at those institutions were treated the same as their peers throughout Kansas. We believe that the Legislature should put the teachers at the Schools for the Deaf and Blind under the professional negotiations act. By doing so, you would give those teachers a say in their salaries, benefits, and working conditions and empower them to be a part of the solution.”

KNEA worked with the Senate Ways and Means Committee to have the sister bill, SB 338, amended so that all certified or licensed non-classified personnel at these schools would be covered. This amendment had been requested by the superintendents of the schools and it is supported by KNEA.

The amended bill was passed by the Senate Committee and then by the full Senate on a vote of 39-0.

The two bills are slightly different so they will have to be conferenced before they can become law.

It’s “amend-a-palooza” in House Ed!

Legislators call it “Christmas-treeing.” That’s when people start adding other bills and amendments to an underlying bill in an attempt to get some bit through that otherwise can’t seem to stand on its own. It usually happens on the House floor.

This week the House Education Committee took up SB 68 which lifts the sunset on non-proficient at-risk weighting. This weighting is a benefit to all school districts and has near universal support. In committee action, a number of amendments were proposed and passed.

Representative Eber Phelps (D-Hays) amended SB 69, the bill allowing districts to continue receiving COLA or declining enrollment weighting without going increasing their LOB, into SB 68. SB 69 sits far below the debate line on the House floor.

Representative Rep. Owen Donohoe (R-Shawnee) amended in HB 2343, the early graduation incentive for construction trades students. The House had added a tuition relief program to HB 2343 and the bill languishes in the Senate Education Committee.

Rep. Sue Storm (D-Overland Park ) amended in the contents of HB 2123 which was Chairman Aurand's transportation bill changing the 10-mile rule. The Senate Education Committee had gutted the original HB 2123.

The bill as amended then passed the committee.

House Committee strips children of undocumented workers of college opportunity

The House Federal and State Affairs Committee, known for their advocacy for extreme positions (this is the Committee that passed the book banning bill, the English as the official language bill, and the “no domestic registry bill), has passed HB 2367 which prohibits illegal immigrants from getting any state benefits.

Bill sponsor Lance Kinzer (R-Olathe) admitted to having no evidence of illegals getting benefits but had some “anecdotal information.” In his attempt to legislate by anecdote, he has managed to strip the children of illegal immigrants of in-state tuition rates. These rates were passed just three years ago and were subject to many repeal attempts – all of which failed – last year.

KNEA and KASB jointly testified against the bill because we believe it goes even further and would stop these students from even enrolling in a Kansas institution of higher education.

The bill is still subject to a vote of the full House and Senate action.

Kinzer has sponsored several highly controversial bills this year including the book banning bill and the bill prohibiting cities from enacting domestic partnership registries.

Higher Ed Issues:

Tech colleges? Same place they were in January!

Despite all the hoopla at the end of the 2006 session and the beginning of this session, technical education is right now just about where it was when the 2007 session started.

The big discussion was around the report of the Technical College Commission which has been given to many committees under the dome and generated one bill. HB 2556 which establishes a Technical Education Authority – a kind of board of supervision – under the Kansas Board of Regents has passed the House and was sent to the Senate Ways and Means Committee where it had a hearing but has not been acted on. The bill was in response to the governance recommendations of the Commission.

At the same time, HB 2014 extending the Technical and Vocational Education Commission passed the full house on a vote of 104-17 and moved over to the Senate where it still sits on the Senate debate calendar.

Deferred maintenance: all talk and no pay

The other 500 pound gorilla in the room (no offense to PSU intended) has been the issue of deferred maintenance at Regents institutions. As of today, not much has happened except talk.

This inaction continued even when the bursting of ancient pipes shut down a portion of Kansas State and allowed human wastes to drip into a classroom (and on to a professor) at the University of Kansas.

At this point in the session, the issue is still generating discussion and, after the rejection of the Governor’s plan to use increased turnpike tolls, the Republican leadership has teed up proposals to let counties with Regents universities raise their own sales or property tax, raise non-resident tuition and earmark the money for deferred maintenance, and make colleges use the interest they earn on tuition money for deferred maintenance.

In other words, don’t look for a real solution any time soon.

Tax Issues:

Will the Senate go cut happy?

The constitutional amendment that, if passed, would allow the legislature to cap property tax valuations for all Kansans over age 65 regardless of wealth still awaits action on the Senate floor.

This amendment takes some real explaining. It is a constitutional amendment that allows the Legislature to cap valuations for seniors – it would not automatically enact those limitations. Of course, any voter voting YES is likely to expect the Legislature to enact those limits.

In addition the amendment allows the Legislature to limit the application of the cap. For example, the Legislature could say only low-income seniors get the break. But this decision would be made after voters passed the amendment expecting that they would get the break. Which senators do you think would sponsor a bill to limit this tax break to only low-income seniors after Kansans had passed the amendment?

If passed, SCR 1602 would dramatically reduce revenue from property tax collections. Local units of government that depend on property taxes – cities, counties, and schools – would be forced to either cut services or raise mill levies to stay even.

Like every so-called tax cut, this is really a tax shift. Seniors would pay less while those under 65 and businesses would pick up the slack.

SCR 1602 has been sitting on the debate calendar of the full Senate for some time now. Hopefully it won’t come up for debate.

KPERS Issues:

House Republicans (and one Democrat) vote to endorse second-class status for retirees!

In floor action this week the Kansas House of Representatives, on a nearly party-line vote, rejected an amendment by Rep. Geraldine Flaharty (D-Wichita) to restore professional status to retired teachers who return to work.

Last year the House stripped these teachers from the definition of “professional employee” thereby stripping them of any salary, benefit or working condition guarantees. The Flaharty amendment would have reversed that action.

The action came as the House debated SB 362, the second tier KPERS benefit structure for new employees. Flaharty rose to offer her amendment and was followed by Bill Otto (R-Leroy) and John Grange (R-El Dorado) who argued it was good to keep these teachers out of the definition and Ann Mah (D-Topeka), Annie Tietze (D-Topeka) and Dale Swenson (R-Wichita) who argued for fair treatment of teachers and bargaining rights.

Rep. Richard Carlson (R-St. Mary’s) unsuccessfully challenged the germaneness of the amendment in an attempt to get consideration thrown out. Rules Chairman Clark Shultz (R-Lindsborg) ruled that the amendment was germane to the underlying bill as both dealt with retirement under KPERS.

On a requested roll call vote, the amendment failed 49-70. Five Republicans joined 44 Democrats in supporting teachers while only one Democrat voted against the amendment.

The five Republicans who supported teachers on the vote were Rocky Fund (Hoyt), Don Hill (Emporia ), Deena Horst (Salina ), Tim Owens (Overland Park ), and Dale Swenson (Wichita ).

The lone Democrat to vote against restoring these teachers to the definition of professional employee was Tom Hawk (Manhattan ).

Democrat Cindy Neighbor (Shawnee ) did not vote; Democrat Marti Crow (Leavenworth ) was absent.

This means the loophole in the law that allows only school districts to pass the KPERS rates on to retired employees who return to work. While the law says the employer shall make the KPERS contribution, school districts can pass that on to the employee through reduced salary or benefits.

Passage of the Flaharty amendment would have restored professional status to these retired professionals and had no cost to the state.

House amends two-tiered KPERS with a “semi-COLA”

After rejecting fair treatment for teachers, the House amended SB 362 on a vote of 70 to 50. They then attached what can only be described as a “semi-COLA” to the bill.

As COLAs for current retirees continue to die long slow deaths in committee rooms, Rep. Harold Lane (D-Topeka) took it upon himself to get something moving. A motion by Lane to provide a one time $500 payment to KPERS retirees who have been retired for 10 or more years managed to pass the full House today. Payment for this “COLA” will come right from KPERS and so have no impact on the state budget.

SB 362 as amended was then passed on a vote of 111-10.

Since the House version of this Senate bill was amended, they will have to go to conference to work out the differences – the “semi-COLA.”

Click here to read the KPERS document comparing the two benefit plans.
 

The End is Near!

The session is coming to its end! Most committees have stopped meeting and all action has moved to the floor as legislators scramble to meet the deadline for passage of bills from the second chamber.

With the last day of the session scheduled for April 3, legislators have reserved Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for floor debate. Conference Committees will get into high gear starting on Thursday. That will allow for four days to get the whole ball of wax wrapped up.

Following a break of about two and one half weeks, legislators will return for the traditional “veto session.” Veto sessions are meant to last three days but can be – and often are – extended.  

Your bill tracker

HB 2343, the early graduation incentive program for students going into the construction trades has been rolled into SB 68.

SB 109 allowing school districts to pay employees at the first regularly scheduled pay date even if that is before September, was moved out of House Appropriations on  Friday and put on the House Consent Calendar where it should pass without debate.

HB 2140, declaring English to be the official language of the state but allowing schools and other units of government to continue to serve the public in other languages, passed both chambers but is now subject to a conference committee.

HB 2185 which would allow Kansans who have left the state to return within five years and qualify for in-state tuition was amended in the Senate before being passed. It now awaits review by a House/Senate conference committee.

HB 2310, requiring schools to have policies on bullying and programs to implement those policies, passed both chambers but is now subject to a conference committee.

SB 69 which would allow districts to use the declining enrollment and cost of living local property taxes if they have an LOB of at least 25%. Current law requires the maximum LOB. The House Education Committee amended the bill into Senate Bill 68.  

SB 129 is an adjustment in the school safety and security act to give districts and law enforcement more reasonable time limits and protect the rights of students. It has passed from the House Ed Committee to the full House where it awaits consideration.

SB 144 which extends the statewide 20 mill property tax levy for schools for another two years passed the Senate unanimously and now sits in the House Taxation Committee.

This week’s links:

The future of KPERS… 

What are the details of the proposal on a different KPERS plan for future teachers and state employees?

Click here to read the KPERS issue brief on the plan.

Is this the future for technical education?

The Technical School and Vocational Education Commission has issued its final report. Part of that report is in House Bill 2556.

Click here to read the Commission’s report.

Want to be a legislative know-it-all?

Stop hoping someone forwards this to you!

Subscribe to Under the Dome, KNEA’s daily legislative report.

 

School issues:

Wild ruckus in House Ed as COLA bill debated

The committee worked itself up in their debate on SB 69. This bill would the bill would lower the maximum percentage of Local Option Budget (LOB) required in order for a school district to access the cost-of-living weighting or the declining enrollment weighting to 25 percent. Current law requires the district using these weightings to be at the maximum LOB or 30%, soon to be 31%.

Currently the COLA weighting is used by three districts – Shawnee Mission, Lawrence and Blue Valley. These districts would now need to move up to 31% LOB and hold an election to continue using the COLA.

An amendment by Representative Eber Phelps (D – Hays) would grandfather these districts in but require others to be at the maximum LOB. This amendment passed.

An amendment offered by Representative Marti Crow (D – Leavenworth ) would have changed the COLA requirements provide equalization aid and give the option only to schools that are designated as “underserved.” The COLA was passed as a way to increase teacher salaries so as to attract teachers to districts with a high cost of housing. The Crow amendment would use the money to attract teachers to hard-to-staff schools. The amendment failed.

During the second day of debate on the bill, an amendment was offered by Representative Deena Horst (R-Salina) to lower the amount of money a district could access from 5% to 2% over a three year period.

This highly controversial amendment passed on a 10-9 vote. While KNEA and most of the education lobby corps opposed the COLA when it was originally debated, we do not believe that it should be removed from those school districts that are using it. We have told legislators that we believe it is best not to monkey with the three-year school finance plan instead suggesting that they use this period to thoroughly study the entire school finance system.

Said KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti, “The three-year plan gives the legislature breathing room – room in which to examine the system, analyze its benefits and deficiencies for all districts, and come to consensus on how to best meet the needs of every Kansas child regardless of ability, income or geography.”

The bill was passed out of the committee as amended. This amendment promises to cause much debate as it goes to the floor for consideration.

A request to reconsider their action the next day was denied by Chairman Aurand.  

The bill will be up for debate by the full House next week. Should be fun!

Salaries at Schools for Deaf, Blind

HB 2422, setting the salaries for teachers at the Kansas Schools for the Deaf and Blind to the Olathe teachers’ salary schedule awaits a final action vote in the full House. The bill has been proposed every year for four years by Rep. Arlen Siegfreid (R-Olathe) and, although it has never passed as is, the provision has been put into an appropriations bill. Siegfreid hopes this time the legislature will pass it and get it into law.

KNEA joined representatives of the schools in supporting the bill. KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti asked legislators to pass the bill but also consider as a long-term solution treating teachers at these two institutions the same as all other public school teachers.

Desetti told the Committee, “This bill is a fix that would not be needed if teachers at those institutions were treated the same as their peers throughout Kansas. We believe that the Legislature should put the teachers at the Schools for the Deaf and Blind under the professional negotiations act. By doing so, you would give those teachers a say in their salaries, benefits, and working conditions and empower them to be a part of the solution.”

KNEA is now working with the Senate Ways and Means Committee to have the bill amended so that all certified or licensed non-classified personnel at these schools would be covered. This amendment had been requested by the superintendents of the schools and it is supported by KNEA. Ways and Means will work the bill on Monday.

Tax Issues:

Still chopping!

A constitutional amendment that, if passed, would allow the legislature to cap property tax valuations for all Kansans over age 65 regardless of wealth still awaits action on the Senate floor.

This amendment takes some real explaining. It is a constitutional amendment that allows the Legislature to cap valuations for seniors – it would not automatically enact those limitations. Of course, any voter voting YES is likely to expect the Legislature to enact those limits.

In addition the amendment allows the Legislature to limit the application of the cap. For example, the Legislature could say only low-income seniors get the break. But this decision would be made after voters passed the amendment expecting that they would get the break. Which senators do you think would sponsor a bill to limit this tax break to only low-income seniors after Kansans had passed the amendment?

If passed, SCR 1602 would dramatically reduce revenue from property tax collections. Local units of government that depend on property taxes – cities, counties, and schools – would be forced to either cut services or raise mill levies to stay even.

Like every so-called tax cut, this is really a tax shift. Seniors would pay less while those under 65 and businesses would pick up the slack.

At this moment SCR 1602 is sitting on the debate calendar of the full Senate.

KPERS Issues:

KPERS Select Committee Republicans vote to keep retired teachers in second class status

You can let the members of the House know how important this issue is. Click here to send an email message to your Representative and the members of the House Appropriations Committee. Be sure to personalize your message!

At a meeting of the House Select Committee on KPERS, the Republican members voted to block an amendment to a bill that would have restored retired teachers who return to work to professional status.

Last year the Legislature stripped retired teachers who return to work from the definition of professional employee thereby stripping them of employment rights including the salary and benefit guarantees of the collective bargaining agreement. This was done at the behest of the Kansas Association of School Boards which protested a statute to protect KPERS which requires the employer to pay the full actuarial rate into KPERS if a retired employee is hired.

Despite the fact that the law says the employer will make the KPERS contribution, the loophole in the law allows school boards to ignore salary agreements in the collective bargaining agreement thereby lowering the teacher’s salary and passing the KPERS contribution on to the employee. The loophole only applies to school districts. All other KPERS employers must make the contribution.

KNEA has been working to repeal the loophole and force school districts to honor the intent of the law. Last night in the House Select Committee on KPERS, Representatives Geraldine Flaharty (D-Wichita) and Harold Lane (D-Topeka) offered an amendment to put these retired professionals back into the definition of professional employee.

Voting with a show of hands, Democrats Flaharty, Lane, and Margaret Long (Kansas City) voted YES while Republicans Sharon Schwartz (Washington), Ty Masterson (Andover), Kevin Yoder (Overland Park), and Clark Shultz (Lindsborg) all voted NO . Committee Chair Richard Carlson (R-St. Mary’s) did not vote while Rep. Lana Gordon (R-Topeka) was absent.  

House Appropriations Sub-Committee on KPERS doesn’t recommend restoring retired workers to professional status; sends discussion to full committee

On Friday in the House Appropriations Sub-committee on KPERS, Rep. Bill Feuerborn (D-Garnett) asked the committee to recommend that retired teachers who return to work be put back into the definition of professional employee.

While Republicans on the Select KPERS Committee voted to reject this recommendation, the sub-committee suggested that it would be best to take up the proposal in the full House Appropriations Committee. This action puts it to the full committee but with no recommendation.

We’ll be watching for the discussion in the full Committee.

You can let the members of the House know how important this issue is. Click here to send an email message to your Representative and the members of the House Appropriations Committee. Be sure to personalize your message!

Two-tiered KPERS comes out of committees; identical in both chambers

The two-tiered KPERS system advanced to the floor of both chambers. The Senate has SB 362 passed unanimously by the Ways and Means Committee; the House has HB 2558 passed unanimously by the House Select Committee on KPERS. Both bills are identical.

Then gets passed by full Senate

In floor action the full Senate passed SB 362 on a 40-0 vote.

The bill moves the second tier KPERS benefit program for new employees hired on or after July 1, 2009 closer to reality. The fundamental differences are as follows:

• The employee contribution goes from 4% to 6%,
• There is less subsidization for early retirement,
• The monthly benefit is based on the final average salary of the five highest years (currently the three highest years),
• Vesting is in five years rather than 10,
• These beneficiaries would receive an annual 2% cost of living adjustment beginning at age 65.

The only change for current employees is that they also get 5 year vesting.

The twin sister bill in the House, HB 2558, is awaiting consideration by the full House.

If it passes the House without amendment, there will be no need for a conference committee and the proposal is certain to become law.

Click here to read the KPERS document comparing the two benefit plans.

Still waiting in the wings…

As for current retirees, there have been no hearings yet on proposals to grant a 3% ad hoc COLA to those already in retirement. We’ll keep watching.

Your bill tracker

Bills in limbo…

HB 2343, an early graduation incentive program for students going into the construction trades. It had a Senate hearing on Tuesday but so far has not come out of the committee.

Bills up for action next week…

SB 109 allows school districts to pay employees at the first regularly scheduled pay date even if that is before September. It gets a hearing in House Appropriations on Monday.

HB 2140, declaring English to be the official language of the state but allowing schools and other units of government to continue to serve the public in other languages, passed the House on February 21 and has moved out of the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee. It sits on the Senate floor awaiting debate next week.

HB 2185 which would allow Kansans who have left the state to return within five years and qualify for in-state tuition was amended in the Senate before being passed. It now awaits review by a House/Senate conference committee.

HB 2310, requiring schools to have policies on bullying and programs to implement those policies. The House took out the extensive survey requirements and added in a “character education” requirement. The Senate Education Committee took out the character education and put the surveys back in. It awaits action on the Senate floor

SB 22 and SB 23 were put together in one bill by the House Education Committee and now await final action on the House floor. SB 22 provides grants to universities expanding teacher prep programs while SB 23 consolidates a number of teacher scholarship programs into one mega-program.

SB 68 extends the non-proficient at-risk weighting that is set to sunset at the end of this school year. House Ed was supposed to hear this bill today but has delayed the hearing until next Tuesday.

HB 2014, extending the Technical and Vocational Education Commission passed the full house on a vote of 104-17 and moved over to the Senate. The Senate Education Committee passed the bill out and it now sits on the Senate debate calendar.

HB 2556 which establishes a Technical Education Authority – a kind of board of supervision – under the Kansas Board of Regents has passed the House Education Committee and will now go to the full House for consideration. It still languishes on the floor debate calendar.

SB 69 would have allowed districts to use the declining enrollment and cost of living local property taxes if they have an LOB of at least 25%. Current law requires the maximum LOB. The House Education Committee amended the bill to keep the requirement for having the maximum LOB but grandfathering districts who have already accessed it at 30%. They also amended the bill to gradually reduce the amount of money available under the COLA. This has set off a firestorm of controversy. A request to reconsider their action in committee was denied by Chairman Aurand.  

SB 129 is an adjustment in the school safety and security act to give districts and law enforcement more reasonable time limits and protect the rights of students. House Ed will work this bill on Wednesday.

SB 144 which extends the statewide 20 mill property tax levy for schools for another two years. This bill awaits a vote on the Senate floor.

This week’s links:

The future of KPERS… 

What are the details of the proposal on a different KPERS plan for future teachers and state employees?

Click here to read the KPERS issue brief on the plan.

Special Note: current employees would not be under this plan! Your plan can only be changed if a change includes a benefit enhancement!

Is this the future for technical education?

The Technical School and Vocational Education Commission has issued its final report. Part of that report is in House Bill 2556.

Click here to read the Commission’s report.

Want to be a legislative know-it-all?

Stop hoping someone forwards this to you!

Subscribe to Under the Dome, KNEA’s daily legislative report.

School issues:

Military second count bill date

The Senate Education Committee held a hearing on HB 2159 which modifies the military impact second student count date in response to the time schedule for military redeployment to Kansas. The Legislature had approved a second count date (Feb. 20) for schools that see a large increase of students (25 students or 1% of their enrollment) who are dependents of military personnel due to the federal Base Realignment and Closure Act. Kansas will see a large increase in military personnel under BRAC.

The problem is that the second date was set for two years only and the realignment will not be completed until possibly 2011. This bill extends the count date for two more years. The bill, which has already passed the House, will be debated next week.

10-mile transportation bill

The Senate Education Committee held a hearing on HB 2123 which amends the “10-mile rule” under which buses can come into a neighboring district to pick up kids. Under current law if a child lives more than 10 miles from his/her attendance center in the resident school district and fewer than 10 miles from an attendance center in a neighboring district, the neighboring district can transport the child to the closer school. HB 2123 would delete the requirement that the neighboring district’s school be within 10 miles. The bill has passed the House twice but never made it out of a Senate Committee.

No action has been taken yet.

Salaries at Schools for Deaf, Blind

The House Education Committee held a hearing on HB 2422, setting the salaries for teachers at the Kansas Schools for the Deaf and Blind to the Olathe teachers’ salary schedule. The bill has been proposed every year for four years by Rep. Arlen Siegfreid (R-Olathe) and, although it has never passed as is, the provision has been put into an appropriations bill. Siegfreid hopes this time the legislature will pass it and get it into law.

KNEA joined representatives of the schools in supporting the bill. KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti asked legislators to pass the bill but also consider as a long-term solution treating teachers at these two institutions the same as all other public school teachers.

Desetti told the Committee, “This bill is a fix that would not be needed if teachers at those institutions were treated the same as their peers throughout Kansas. We believe that the Legislature should put the teachers at the Schools for the Deaf and Blind under the professional negotiations act. By doing so, you would give those teachers a say in their salaries, benefits, and working conditions and empower them to be a part of the solution.”

Related services in special ed

The House Federal and State Affairs Committee discussed House Bill 2436 which would add some language to the “related services” section of the Kansas special education law. The intent of the proposed change is to get a specific program for children with autism into the statute.

KNEA and KASB jointly testified that the change was inappropriate in that it would statutorily mandate a specific special education intervention and that as written the fiscal note to the state would be approximately $11 million dollars.

There was much confusion in the committee room as legislators discussed whether or not the bill would address the concerns of the parents who brought it to the Legislature and whether the Federal and State Affairs Committee was the right place to hear an education bill.

The Committee adjourned without taking action.

At-risk bill pulled from floor action

Senate Bill 93 was pulled from the Senate floor and sent back to the Education Committee on Tuesday.

Senate Bill 93 changes the high density at-risk formula from a stair-step (one weighting for school districts with 40 to 49% poverty, a second one for districts with poverty at 50% and above) to a linear transition from 35% to 50% and above. Under the current law if a district was at 50.1% poverty and lost one child over the summer, they could lose thousands of dollars in aid. SB 93 would mitigate that loss.

KNEA supported the bill as introduced originally but pulled support because of an amendment added in the Committee earlier in the session.

To hold districts harmless would require an additional $2.6 million – an amount that is already in the ’08 education budget. The Committee amendment pulled the extra $2.6 million out of the bill thereby cutting money to most school districts. Representatives of the education community asked that the bill be reworked so that districts would not lose. Senate leadership did just that.

Post-secondary issues:

Two bills on Technical Education moving through the House

HB 2014, extending the Technical and Vocational Education Commission passed the full house on a vote of 104-17 and moved over to the Senate. The Senate Education Committee held a hearing on the bill but took no action. The Committee will consider taking action on bills on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

House Bill 2556 which establishes a Technical Education Authority – a kind of board of supervision – under the Kansas Board of Regents has passed the House Education Committee and will now go to the full House for consideration.

The only substantial amendment made in committee came from Rep. John Faber (R-Brewster). The Faber amendment allows the Board of Regents to pick their two representatives to the Authority rather than having the Governor pick two Regents to serve.

The Bill comes from a recommendation made by the Kansas Technical College and Vocational Education Commission.

Tax Issues:

Senate Tax Committee declines opportunity to modernize Kansas tax system

Continuing on the path of cutting taxes with no concern about the impact on state revenue, the Senate Tax Committee approved two tax cuts and decided to take no action on a bill to review the entire tax system with the intent of making it fair and stable.

Senate Bill 305 would have established a Tax Modernization Commission whose task would be to review the entire Kansas tax system in order to ensure that the system is fair to all citizens and businesses and provides a stable revenue stream for state services through good times and bad. The bill was supported by Kansas Action for Children, KNEA, KASB, the Kansas League of Municipalities and the Kansas Livestock Association.

The tax committees now work in a piecemeal fashion when making tax policy. They routinely enact tax cuts that put pressure on local units of government to make up the loss by raising local property taxes. KNEA and others have consistently urged the committees to review the tax system and consider how to widen the tax base so that the overall tax rate can be reduced, easing the pressure on local property taxes.

With a cut-cut here and a cut-cut there…

Instead of looking at the whole system, the tax committees have focused on cutting business taxes, adding sales tax exemptions, and moving constitutional amendments to cap property valuations.

The decision to set SB 305 aside is a disappointment. The enthusiasm with which the committees are passing tax cuts and caps will lead the state to a repeat of recent history. In the late 90’s the Legislature went on a tax cutting spree when economic times were rosy and found themselves cutting programs and raising taxes when the post 9/11 recession hit. Finding themselves in rosy economic times once again, they again embark on a tax cutting spree. Unfortunately economic conditions, like history, tend to repeat themselves.

At the same time, the full Senate has passed HB 2031 which reduces the business franchise tax and repeals income tax on social security benefits for certain low-income retirees. This bill will reduce state revenue by $50 million over three years. Neither the Senate nor the House have suggested how the loss will be made up.

KPERS Issues:

The Senate Ways and Means Committee unanimously recommended Senate Bill 362 which creates a new KPERS plan for people joining the work force after July 1, 2009. The new plan is similar to the current plan but uses a 5 year averaging instead of 3 years for benefit calculation, raises the retirement age, and increases the employee contribution from 4% to 6% in exchange for an annual 2% COLA beginning at age 65.

In a hearing earlier in the week, KNEA opposed the bill as bad for recruitment and retention of teachers. New teachers, we said, should not have to work longer for a lower benefit. United School Administrators also questioned the bill on the basis of recruitment and retention.

On Thursday, however the Committee with very little discussion voted to send the bill to the full Senate with their recommendation that it be passed. This action was not unexpected. The Senate has been toying with the idea of a two-tiered system for several years. If this bill becomes law it will have no immediate impact on the KPERS unfunded actuarial liability but down the road could reduce the number of years it would take to put the system in balance.

To see the details of the plan, read the KPERS Issue Brief. Click here.

A companion bill, SB 364, would raise the employee contribution for current employees from 4% to 6% and give them an annual 2% COLA beginning at age 65. This bill was sent back to KPERS for more consideration. Legislators were concerned about its cost and wondered if there were other options for granting a COLA to current workers. It is highly unlikely that this bill will resurface this session.

Both of these bills have House twins. SB 362 is HB 2557 while SB 364 is HB 2558. The House Select Committee on KPERS held a hearing on these bills Thursday. KNEA lobbyist Terry Forsyth testified against the two-tiered system before the committee.

The Select Committee plans to debate and work the bills on Monday evening.

Waiting in the wings

As for current retirees, there have been no hearings yet on proposals to grant a 3% ad hoc COLA to those already in retirement. We’ll keep watching.

This issue could come up in the KPERS “Omnibus” discussions. Every year there is a KPERS Omnibus bill which contains a plethora of ideas culled from the whole variety of bills that were introduced during the session. This work may begin next week.

Your bill tracker

Bills in limbo…

SB 109 allows school districts to pay employees at the first regularly scheduled pay date even if that is before September. This bill is idling in House Appropriations.

HB 2140, declaring English to be the official language of the state but allowing schools and other units of government to continue to serve the public in other languages, passed the House on February 21 and has had a hearing in the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee. There it sits.

HB 2185 which would allow Kansans who have left the state to return within five years and qualify for in-state tuition had a hearing the Senate Ways and Means Committee where it awaits action.

Bills up for action next week…

HB 2310, requiring schools to have policies on bullying and programs to implement those policies. It was amended on the floor by Rep. Kasha Kelley to have a “character education” requirement. It will have a Senate hearing on Monday.

HB 2343, an early graduation incentive program for students going into the construction trades. It will have a Senate hearing on Tuesday.

SB 22 provides grants to universities expanding teacher prep programs. House Ed will work this bill on Tuesday.

SB 23 consolidates a number of teacher scholarship programs into one mega-program. House Ed will work this bill on Tuesday.

SB 68 extends the non-proficient at-risk weighting that is set to sunset at the end of this school year. House Ed will work this bill on Friday.

SB 69 would allow districts to use the declining enrollment and cost of living local property taxes if they have an LOB of at least 25%. Current law requires the maximum LOB. House Ed will work this bill on Tuesday.

SB 129 is an adjustment in the school safety and security act to give districts and law enforcement more reasonable time limits and protect the rights of students. House Ed will work this bill on Wednesday.

SB 144 which extends the statewide 20 mill property tax levy for schools for another two years. This bill awaits a vote on the Senate floor.

The future of KPERS… 

What are the details of the proposal on a different KPERS plan for future teachers and state employees?

Click here to read the KPERS issue brief on the plan.

Click here to read SB 362, the newly introduced bill to enact the plan.

Special Note: current employees would not be under this plan! Your plan can only be changed if a change includes a benefit enhancement!

Want to be a legislative know-it-all?

Stop hoping someone forwards this to you!

Subscribe to Under the Dome, KNEA’s daily legislative report.

School bills:

What’s passed the House?

HB 2014, extending the Technical and Vocational Education Commission. (104-17)

HB 2123, deleting the 10-mile rule for transporting students. Under current law a bus from a neighboring district can come into another district to pick up a student if the student lives more than 10 miles from his/her school of residency and less than 10 miles from a school in the neighboring district. This deletes the requirement that the neighboring district school be less than 10 miles away. (121-1)

HB 2159, adjusting the military second count day for schools due to a change in redeployment of soldiers. This is a good one for Ft. Riley and Ft. Leavenworth neighbors in particular. (120-0)

HB 2130, requiring schools to have policies on bullying and programs to implement those policies. It was amended on the floor by Rep. Kasha Kelley to have a “character education” requirement. (109-13)

HB 2343, an early graduation incentive program for students going into the construction trades. (122-0)

HB 2459, not actually passed; this is the character education bill amended into the bullying bill.

What’s passed the Senate?

SB 22 provides grants to universities expanding teacher prep programs. (39-0)

SB 23 consolidates a number of teacher scholarship programs into one mega-program. (40-0)

SB 68 extends the non-proficient at-risk weighting that is set to sunset at the end of this school year. (35-5)

SB 69 would allow districts to use the declining enrollment and cost of living local property taxes if they have an LOB of at least 25%. Current law requires the maximum LOB. (39-1)

SB 109 allows school districts to pay employees at the first regularly scheduled pay date even if that is before September. (38-0)

SB 129 is an adjustment in the school safety and security act to give districts and law enforcement more reasonable time limits and protect the rights of students. (40-0)

All of the above bills still need to pass the second chamber to become law. What’s the only bill to already pass both chambers?

Senate Bill 30 – the school finance lock box!

What’s passed a Committee but has been blessed so it can be considered after the turnaround break?

SB 93 changes the high poverty at-risk to a linear transition.

SB 144 which extends the statewide 20 mill property tax levy for schools for another two years.
 

Among the many bills withering away due to lack of action are…

• HB 2022; Employees can serve on school boards
• HB 2063; Reduce the transportation mileage from 2.5 miles to 1.0 miles
• HB 2090; Calculating weight and height of students in grades 4, 7, 9, and 12
• HB 2223; ESOL training grants to school districts
• HB 2253; Special education vouchers
• HB 2275; Shutting off vending machines during the school day
• HB 2338; Changing at-risk from a head count of kids in poverty to an FTE count of kids in programs
• HB 2347; Required gifted training for all teachers
• HB 2389; Charter school appeals to the State Board
• SB 61; Eliminating the required election to go to  31% on the LOB
• SB 70; Allowing school districts to bring buses into their neighboring districts to get students.
• SB 142; Changing the Cost of Living weighting from housing cost to a comparative wage index
• SB 170; Putting limits on vending machines and beverage sales in schools
• SB 171; Requiring schools to provide fresh fruits and vegetables between meals
• SB 280; Dealing with corporal punishment
• SB 281; Requiring minutes of PE, fitness tests, and body mass index calculations of students
• SB 282; Special Education vouchers

Tax Bills:

Franchise tax elimination would cut state revenue by over $44 million each year!

The House passed HB 2031 repealing the franchise tax on business against the advice of the Governor and the Department of Revenue.

According to the budget department this repeal would cost the state $44 million in revenue in 2008. Extending the cut out results in even greater revenue reductions in subsequent years - $45 million in 2009, $46 million in 2010, $47 million in 2011, and $48 million in 2012.

The resulting revenue loss will lead to a shift in taxes and a possible tax increase down the line a few years.

KNEA and KASB jointly opposed the franchise tax elimination.

Radical property tax cuts pending in the Senate!

The Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee has fired out a constitutional amendment that, if passed, would allow the legislature to cap property tax valuations for all Kansans over age 65.

This amendment takes some real explaining. It is a constitutional amendment that allows the Legislature to cap valuations for seniors – it would not automatically enact those limitations. Of course, any voter voting YES is likely to expect the Legislature to enact those limits.

In addition the amendment allows the Legislature to limit the application of the cap. For example, the Legislature could say only low-income seniors get the break. But this decision would be made after voters passed the amendment expecting that they would get the break. Which senators do you think would sponsor a bill to limit this tax break to only low-income seniors after Kansans had passed the amendment?

If passed, SCR 1602 would dramatically reduce revenue from property tax collections. Local units of government that depend on property taxes – cities, counties, and schools – would be forced to either cut services or raise mill levies to stay even.

Like every so-called tax cut, this is really a tax shift. Seniors would pay less while those under 65 and businesses would pick up the slack.

At this moment SCR 1602 is sitting on the debate calendar of the full Senate.

What’s a cut-happy legislator to do?

If legislators want to make the people of Kansas happy with their tax burden then they need to stop monkeying with the tax system in a piecemeal fashion.

KNEA and KASB are urging the Tax Committees to take a comprehensive look at the entire Kansas tax system to ensure that our many provisions result in a system that will provide stable funding for all state services and that is fair to both citizens and business.

A bill to do this is Senate Bill 305 which would create a Tax Modernization Commission charged with reviewing the system and restoring common sense.

SB 305 is tentatively scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee on March 6. We’ll be there!

KPERS Bills: Waiting in the wings

No action has as yet been taken on any bill dealing with KPERS.

Three bills exist each of which would provide a 3% COLA for current retirees. Those bills are:

HB 2178 by Harold Lane (D-Topeka),

SB 167 by John Vratil (R-Leawood), and

SB 263 by Anthony Hensley (D-Topeka)

Introduced just today in the Senate for consideration in the second half of the session are:

SB 362 would establish a two-tiered retirement system. Under this bill new teachers beginning in 2009 would be under a different retirement plan that has a 6% employee contribution, 5 year vesting, a later retirement age, and a regular 2% COLA after retirement. Current employees would stay under the current plan.

SB 364 would increase the current employee’s rate from 4% to 6% and would add a regular 2% COLA after retirement.

At the end of yesterday’s business, House Speaker Melvin Neufeld announced the appointment of a Select Committee on KPERS. Members of this committee are;

Rep. Richard Carlson, Chair (R-St. Mary’s)

Rep. Kevin Yoder, Vice-Chair (R-Overland Park )

Rep. Lana Gordon (R-Topeka)

Rep. Ty Masterson (R-Andover)

Rep. Clark Shultz (R-Lindsborg)

Rep. Sharon Schwartz (R-Washington)

Rep. Geraldine Flaharty, Ranking Minority (D-Wichita)

Rep. Harold Lane (D-Topeka)

Rep. Margaret Long (D-Kansas City ) 

Other Bills:

House reaffirms lowest minimum wage in the nation!

Declaring an increase in Kansas ’ abysmal minimum wage of $2.65 an hour a “European-style socialist bill,” House Republicans slapped down a motion by Rep. Valdenia Winn (D-Kansas City ) to amend HB 2316 that would raise the Kansas minimum wage to the federal $5.15.

Only Alabama , Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee have a minimum wage lower than Kansas – they don’t have one at all! Of the other 44 states, 16 use the federal minimum wage and 28 have a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage.

Following the vote, Rep Geraldine Flaharty, D-Wichita, said, “This is a crime against humanity. Kansans deserve better.”

Flaharty is a KNEA member from Derby while Winn is a KNEA member from Kansas City, Kansas Community College.

Oh, and who said the minimum wage was European-style socialism? Republican Representative Ben Hodge of Overland Park.

House declares English our official language!

Yes, it’s official! We use English in Kansas!

The House passed HB 2140 declaring English to be the official language of the state but allowing schools and other units of government to continue to serve the public in other languages.

An amendment to the bill by Rep. Sue Storm (D-Overland Park ) added $500,000 in funding for ESOL programs for adults.

As finally passed the bill is among the better English-only proposals in the nation. It allows schools to continue whatever bilingual programs they have now and to deal with parents and community members in the appropriate language. The same is true for all other units of Government.

The Storm amendment makes sure that Kansas puts its money where its language is – we’re actually going to help immigrants learn English!

Storm is a KNEA member from Shawnee Mission.

House helps former Kansans come back for a college education!

On a vote of 123 – 0, the House approved HB 2185 which would allow Kansans who have left the state to return within five years and qualify for in-state tuition.

This bill would especially help those who have pursued undergraduate degrees out of state to return for graduate work in Kansas – and hopefully to stay here!

Another bill, SB 287 by Sen. Karin Brownlee (R-Olathe) is pending in the Senate Ways and Means Committee. SB 287 would allow the children of alumni to qualify for resident tuition rates.

Some legislators really want to bring brains into Kansas!

House wisely nixes initiative and referendum!

The full House refused to advance HB 2082 to final action putting the skids on an effort to expand initiative and referendum to counties.

Had the bill passed, it likely would have inspired the pursuit of initiative and referendum state wide. That would put us in with states like Oregon, California, and Colorado where anyone with enough money can put their crazy ideas on the ballot. Think TABOR in Colorado or funding cuts in California.

Good thinking on the part of the House – we don’t need initiative and referendum in Kansas!

Senate doubles speeding fines in school zones!

It comes back every year but this year it’s got legs! SB 8 by Senator Phil Journey (R-Haysville) would double the fine for speeding if caught in a school zone. In addition, the bill adds “disobeying a school crossing guard” to the state’s uniform fine schedule.

KNEA has supported this legislation every year.

Coming up next week!

Three days more or less off, then the start of the second half

Monday and Tuesday the legislature will not meet (and so you won’t get your daily dose of Under the Dome).

Most committees will not be meeting on Wednesday (including the Education Committees).

Work gets under way in earnest on Thursday. Look for your next report on Thursday, March 1 unless something really exciting happens on Wednesday!

This week’s links:

Understanding Taxes… 

You know we need taxes but so many legislators think taxes are evil! What’s the real deal?

Click here to learn about the reality of taxes: What’s good policy; Who’s paying?; Are they going up or down?

Want to be a legislative know-it-all?

Stop hoping someone forwards this to you!

Subscibe to Under the Dome, KNEA’s daily legislative report.

Funding Issues:

KNEA testifies on Education Budget

KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti appeared before the House Education Budget Committee to share the Association’s thoughts on funding schools. Here are some of his remarks:

Kansas NEA believes that the Kansas Legislature must, at a minimum, honor the commitments made in SB 549 for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 school years. Kansas NEA further believes that as the economy of Kansas continues to improve additional increases in school funding are necessary and justified.

We applaud the steps the legislature has already taken in the passage of Senate Bill 30 which demonstrate a widespread commitment on the part of the legislature to honor the promises of Senate Bill 549.

You have learned in a new study by the Legislative Post Audit Division that teacher salaries, when adjusted for cost of living differences nationwide, are 33^rd in the nation. More distressing for the retention of teachers is that the study found beginning teacher salaries among the best when adjusted for regional differences (6^th) but veteran teacher salaries drop to 36^th.

An additional challenge is that of health insurance for teachers and their families. Some school districts still do not offer health insurance at all and too many require large out of pocket expenditure for premiums for family coverage.

We believe that the Legislature must make every effort to increase teacher salaries and the opportunities for access to affordable health insurance. Funding that comes to school districts as base state aid is the most useful way to provide funding if you want to address salaries and benefits.

Other ways to address teacher retention include quality professional development, new teacher induction and mentoring, and empowering teachers as decision-makers in their schools.

Recent actions by the Legislature have moved more school funding to the local level and required an increasing dependence on the local property tax payer.

Today the LOB is at 31%, there are additional local property tax levies for the cost of living and declining enrollment weightings, and there are proposals before this legislature to add still more local property tax levies at the discretion of local boards of education.

We find this trend disturbing in part because it creates disparities in the ability of taxpayers in one area to fund the same kind of quality education as in other high-valuation areas but also because it is contributing to an over-reliance on the property tax and upsetting the traditional three-legged stool of tax balance.

Special Ed Vouchers: A “Superfund” for private schools

Kay O’Connor may be gone, but her spirit lives on! We had two special education vouchers bills both of which are virtually identical to Kay’s last proposal while in the Senate. In the House HB 2253 by Rep. Lance Kinzer (R-Olathe) would let students with IEPs go to private schools, take money away from public schools, demand that public schools also provide special ed services to the private schools, pay for assessments for the private schools, and transport the private school students.   KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti referred to this bill as the “special ed superfund for private schools.”

Over in the Senate it was SB 282 by Sen. Chris Steineger (D-Kansas City ). The bill was identical to HB 2253 except that it also provided vouchers for at-risk students with a GPA of less than 3.0. KNEA’s position was the same too.

Also opposing both bills were KASB, Kansas Families United for Public Education, Kansas City Public Schools, and the Olathe Public Schools.

Renewing a state revenue source for schools

Every two years the Legislature must renew the statewide two mill property tax levy for schools and this is the year.

SB 144 would renew the levy. KNEA supported the bill.

This ought to be a “no-brainer” for everyone. The 20 mill property tax levy is a major fund dedicated to public education. If the legislature wants to continue funding public schools (and in passing the “lock box” they have indicated that that is the case) then they need to make sure the funding stream is there.

The Senate Education Committee passed the bill out for consideration by the full Senate.

Tax Issues:

Everybody is hopping on the sales tax exemption gravy train!

In most years, legislators consider a few new sales tax exemptions for worthy organizations. Usually it focuses on whether or  not an organization like the Girl Scouts should be exempt from charging sales tax on cookies.

This year however, it looks like a sales tax exemption feeding frenzy in the House and Senate Tax Committees.

This week the Senate Tax Committee considered no less than nine sales tax exemptions. And who wants an exemption this week? These nine bills gave breaks to 501 (c)(3) organizations, the Dream Factory, Inc., Jazz in the Woods, Inc., Ottawa Suzuki Strings, Inc., the International Association of Lions Clubs, Johnson County Young Matrons, Inc., the Frontenac Education Foundation, the Booth Theatre Foundation, Inc., and the TLC Charities Foundation, Inc.

KNEA, speaking on behalf of both the association and KASB, expressed concern to the committee saying, “Each of these bills represents a small exemption. Each of these may be a worthy organization. But with each exemption granted, the state revenue stream is reduced. We have not seen any tax proposals that would offset the loss of revenue that would result from the passage of these or any of the other tax reductions being debated this year.”

It won’t end here. On Thursday bills were introduced seeking sales tax exemptions for the Kansas Herpetological Society and the Center of North American Herpetology!

KNEA and KASB are urging the Tax Committees to take a comprehensive look at the entire Kansas tax system to ensure that our many provisions result in a system that will provide stable funding for all state services and that is fair to both citizens and business. A bill to do this is Senate Bill 350 which would create a Tax Modernization Commission charged with reviewing the system and restoring common sense.

So far the Tax Committees seem disinterested.

Other Issues:

Passing the full Senate:

Two bills on Physical Education

In the House it was HB 2090 by Rep. Pat Colloton (R-Leawood). As drafted Colloton’s bill would require schools to conduct a physical fitness test and to measure the height and weight of all students in grades 4, 7, 9, and 12 and report the body mass index (BMI) to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. It would also require schools to submit a report on the number of licensed PE teachers.

Its brother bill in the Senate was SB 281 by Sen. Chris Steineger (D-Kansas City ). Steineger’s bill does everything Colloton’s does but adds a requirement that students in elementary schools get 200 minutes every 10 days of PE instruction while secondary students get 400 minutes of PE every 10 days.

KNEA testified against both bills as unfunded mandates. Who, KNEA asked, would be responsible for doing all the measuring and calculating of height, weight, and BMI? Who would complete the state reports? Who would pay the ongoing costs of program implementation?

In addition, KNEA opposed the Senate Bill’s addition of three credits of PE to the high school graduation program. The bill has no funding for the additional personnel and adding these three credits could result in the reduction of opportunities for other elective classes such as fine arts and foreign languages.

A proposed amendment to the Colloton bill would reduce the mandate to simply measuring height and weight and turning that information into KDHE who would calculate the BMI. This would be done without student identifying data and the information used by KDHE to gather data on the obesity situation in Kansas. Colloton’s amendment would also provide support to school district who need help getting the measurements done. KNEA will support Colloton’s amendment when the committee decides to work the bill.

Two bills on Vending machines

Over in the House, HB 2275 would simply turn off the vending machines during the school day. The Senate version, SB 170, would turn off most vending machines – there is an exception for vending machines with water only – and put restrictions on the times and locations where soft drinks could be sold for fundraisers.

KNEA did not testify on either bill but made it clear that if schools cannot count on vending machine sales money, the state should replace those funds. Vending machines are most often used to support student clubs, activities, and extracurricular programs. Often they are a source of funding for uniforms for bands and athletic teams.

The other bills

HB 2343 – This early graduation incentive program would give a $1000 grant to students who graduate a year early from high school. This grant would be used to purchase tools necessary for entering a building trades training program or apprenticeship. Upon completion of the training or apprenticeship program, the student would be given another $3000 grant. KNEA took no position.

HB 2310 – This bill would require the development of a common definition of bullying, require schools to develop and implement anti-bullying programs and annually survey students on the effectiveness of those plans. KNEA took a neutral stand on the bill telling legislators that the bill left many questions and did not provide any funds for development of implementation of the plan.

HB 2347 – This gifted education teacher prep mandate would require schools of education to require one course in gifted education and all current teachers to take 10 hours of gifted education professional development for their next license renewal. KNEA told the committee that the pre-service issue is one to be addressed at the State Board of Education where teacher prep program standards are developed and set and that the issue of training current teachers is appropriately in the purview of the local professional development council and the teacher’s professional development plan.

HB 2389 – This is an annual bill sought by those frustrated because a local board of education has turned down their charter school request. The bill would allow the State Board of Education to overturn the local board’s denial of a charter petition. KNEA opposed the bill because we hold strongly that schools that use tax dollars must be accountable to the local taxpayers. The best way to do that is to keep decisions about charter schools in the hands of the locally elected school board. This will ensure that each community has schools that meet the needs of that community.

SB 171 – The “Fresh Start” program would require schools to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to students between meals. There would be some money available through grants but there would not likely be enough money to reimburse the costs to school districts. KNEA took no position.

Coming up next week!

Two days of light committee hearings and then nothing but floor action

Among the bills getting hearings next week:

SB 280, a bill on corporal punishment providing immunity for teachers who practice it and defining what offenses would be eligible for immediate corporal punishment.

HB 2389, a bill requiring school districts to have policies on dealing with blood and infectious materials.

HB 2337, disallowing at-risk weighting for students 21 years of age and older.

HB 2338, a bill changing at-risk weighting from a student head count to an FTE count.

SB 338, setting teacher pay at the schools for the deaf and blind to the Olathe salary schedule.

HCR 5013, a constitutional amendment capping the property valuations for Kansans over 65 years of age.

Committees will meet Monday and Tuesday. After that it’s three or maybe four days of floor action as both chambers race to turn-around. Any bill that has a chance must be passed by the chamber or origin by Saturday or be tossed in the dustbin of history! Unless of course Legislative leadership “blesses” the bill by sending it to a committee that is exempt from timelines – like the money committees!

This week’s links:

Complex & Controversial… 

Americans for Prosperity and a proposed constitutional amendment for supermajority votes would love to stifle state services.

Click here for more information about the proposals that AFP loves. Read about TABOR and its potentially devastating effect on Kansas.

Just what is the HPV vaccine and will it help our girls and women?

For a Food and Drug Administration press release on the HPV vaccine, click here.

For the Centers for Disease Control Fact Sheet on HPV, click here.

Want to be a legislative know-it-all?

Stop hoping someone forwards this to you!

Subscibe to Under the Dome, KNEA’s daily legislative report.

Funding Issues:

Should the Legislature have to make “suitable” provision for the finance of schools?

The answer, as proposed in SCR 1601, a constitutional amendment that would strike the words “make suitable provision” from the constitution, is NO!

This is one in a long line of proposals to dumb down the Kansas public schools. Attempts by legislators to strip the word “suitable” from the constitution or to statutorily define suitable as just a series of course offerings have been debated under the dome ever since Schools for Fair Funding won the school  finance lawsuit and forced the Legislature to increase funding for public education.

This latest proposal offered by Senator Phil Journey (R-Haysville) would leave schools with no recourse should the legislature continue to increase requirements while not increasing funding. In effect, schools could not sue the state as they did in the recently settled case because the constitution would now read, “The legislature shall provide for finance of the educational interests of the state in the manner and amount as determined solely by the legislature.”

Asked whether any group, such as the disabled, could sue the state for more funding, KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the right to seek redress in the courts is open to anyone but the only program the constitution speaks directly to in regards to finance is education.

In the hearing in the Judiciary Committee the only proponent was Senator Journey. KNEA’s Desetti and Mark Tallman of KASB testified as opponents of the bill.

Should the state lower the transportation mileage?

The House Education Committee first heard a bill – HB 2063 – by Representative Bill Otto (R-Leroy) that would lower the transportation mileage in the formula from 2.5 miles to 1 mile. At 2.5 miles, Kansas has one of the highest limits in the nation.

Of course this would come with a hefty pricetag. The Department of Education estimates the bill would effect transportation for about 90,000 students and cost the state an additional $26 million in 2008.

KNEA testified in favor of HB 2063 as a safety issue for students.

Should Kansas  put tighter controls on out of state students?

HB 2092 would require districts to have agreements with cross-border districts before they could take students from out of state. The sending district would have to agree to pay the costs of educating that student. For example, if an Oklahoma student comes in to attend a Kansas school, there would have to be an agreement between the Oklahoma district and the Kansas district under which the Oklahoma district would pay for the education of the student.

There are exceptions in the bill for the children of school district employees, children whose parents own property and pay property taxes in Kansas, and students who attended a Kansas school in the 2004-05 school year.

This is another annual proposal offered as a cost saver. Legislators assume that the state is paying the costs of education lots of kids who cross the borders. In a fiscal analysis of the impact, savings to the state would be offset by increases in the low-enrollment weighting caused by the loss of the students.

While working bills on Friday, the Committee took a pass on HB 2092, deciding not to move ahead with it.

Should we fix a flaw in the high density at-risk weighting?

The Senate Education Committee held a hearing on Senate Bill 93 which would change the high density at-risk weighting by distributing it on a linear basis rather than its current “stair step” approach. Under current law districts with 40% to 49.9% poverty receive an additional at-risk weighting of 0.4 while those with 50% or greater poverty receive an additional 0.9. Under this construct if a district with 50% poverty were to lose one or two students it could potentially lose thousands of dollars in funding.

The new proposal would provide a slight increase in funding for each student in poverty from 35% to 50%. This would result in a much smaller loss of funds for districts where the number of students in poverty decreases. KNEA testified in support of the bill.

Should the cost of living weighting be change?

Also heard in Senate Ed was Senate Bill 142 which changes the cost-of-living (COLA) weighting from a measure of the cost of residential housing to a comparable wage index resulting in a more regionally based system and allowing many more school districts – 101 in all – to have the opportunity to access this local property tax levy.

KNEA supports changing the COLA to a regional basis but the bill still contains a flaw. The COLA has no state aid component. Property poor school districts might have the opportunity to raise local property taxes for the COLA but the required mill levy would be so high without state aid that most could not. KNEA will testify that doing this properly would require a state aid component.

Tax Issues:

Still more reductions to state revenue!

The House Taxation Committee discussed yet another tax cut proposal, taking up HB 2264. This time they are taking on the consideration of social security benefits in the state income tax system.

KNEA and KASB worked together on testimony before the Committee. Mark Tallman of KASB spoke on behalf of both organizations.

KNEA and KASB continue to remind the members of the Tax Committees that piecemeal alterations to the state’s tax system are like squeezing a balloon. When you press one end of a balloon, the other end becomes over-inflated. If we reduce one tax then we put pressure on other elements in the tax system; perhaps requiring an increase elsewhere.

Legislators seem to be particularly concerned about the impact of various taxes on senior citizens. The problem with their solutions is that they take a blanket approach – no senior gets a valuation increase on their home or no senior pays income tax on social security benefits. What they fail to address is targeting tax relief to those who actually need tax relief.

KNEA, in testimony on these proposals, has urged the committee to utilize means testing in providing such relief. If a retiree is living on social security alone, perhaps tax relief is needed. But retirees with social security, another retirement plan, and other investments is likely able to afford their tax bill.

In truth, the retiree living on social security alone is not likely to meet an income level requiring a tax payment so the benefit in HB 2264 would go to those with higher retirement incomes.

KNEA and KASB continue to call on the Tax Committees to conduct make a comprehensive examination of the entire tax system to ensure that our many provisions result in a system that will provide stable funding for all state services and that is fair to both citizens and business.

What about a textbook tax break?

Over in the Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee they considered SB 172, a bill to give parents a generous tax credit if they pay a textbook fee to the school district.

Such a credit would take a large chunk of money out of the state’s revenue stream.

KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti, speaking for both KNEA and KASB suggested that the offering of such a proposal was an admission that schools were still not adequately funded. “Is it better policy,” Desetti asked, “for the state to fund schools so that there was no need for fees or to underfund schools and then give out tax credits because the schools had to resort to fees?”

Bills moving along

Passing the full Senate:

SB 109 (38-0) which would allow school districts to pay teachers on the first regularly scheduled pay date.

SB 8 (32-7) would double speeding fines in school zones.

SB 69 (39-1) allowing districts to  keep cost of living and declining enrollment weighting without going to 31% LOB.

SB 153 (38-0) allowing Stafford County school districts to share certain property for assessed valuation.

House Ed took a pass on HB 2022, the bill to allow low income school employees to serve on their employing school boards.

House Ed worked bills on Friday and moved the following to the full House for consideration:

HB 2185 which would allow someone who graduated from a Kansas high school and has been out of the state for five years to return to Kansas and get in-state tuition rates.

HB 2159 which extends the second count date for schools impacted by new military personnel; this was passed last year in response to a military base realignment but that realignment has not gone as quickly as expected and so this bill is needed.

HB 2093, a special education teacher scholarship bill amended to included teachers training to teach the gifted as well.

HB 2123, a bill which amends the 10-mile rule for transportation. Under current law if a child lives further than 10 miles from a school in his/her home district and less than 10 miles from a school in a neighboring district, the neighboring district can come in and pick up the child. This bill would delete the requirement that the student be less than 10 miles from the school in the neighboring district.

Other bills being heard

Autism Task Force

In recent years the Legislature has shown more and more interest in setting up groups to study issues and bring them recommendations. We’ve seen more and more things tossed to the Division of the Legislative Post Audit for study and a growing tendency to create other bodies including the Technical Education Commission, the 2010 Commission, and the At-risk Council.

Senate Bill 138 would establish an Autism Task Force which “shall study and conduct hearings on the issues relating to, the needs of and services available for persons with autism.”

The proposed 13-member Autism Task Force has a very specific membership appointed by legislative leadership and the governor and will be required to submit a preliminary report by November 15, 2007 with a final report due on November 15, 2008. The reports are to contain legislative recommendations.

Banning Tax-paid lobbyists

A bill heard in the House Elections and Governmental Organization Committee would prohibit the use of tax money to pay for lobbying or hiring lobbyists. HB 2260 would stop all school districts, cities, and counties or other tax-payer funding organizations from advocating at the capitol.

The bill says, “No officer or employee of any city, county, unified school district or other political or taxing subdivision of the state shall make or authorize the expenditure of funds or moneys of such political or taxing subdivision to pay the cost of employing or contracting for the services of any person whose duty and responsibility is lobbying on behalf of such political or taxing subdivision.”

In testifying against the bill, KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti told the committee, “House Bill 2260 is a fundamental stifling of democracy. Local taxpayers depend most directly on the decisions of their local units of government. It’s their schools, their roads, their libraries, police and fire departments they have the most interest in and contact with. They expect their commissions and boards to advocate in the Legislature for their city, their county, and their school district.”

Proponents of the plan – those who would prohibit cities, counties, and school districts from lobbying – included Alan Cobb of the extreme anti-government group Americans for Prosperity.

Americans for Prosperity works to slash government programs from highways and public safety to schools and services to the elderly by seeking tax and expenditure limits on state government. Their big “success” was passing the so-called “Taxpayer Bill of Rights” or TABOR in Colorado in 1992. Last year voters in Colorado suspended TABOR in a effort to stop the disintegration of state services.

For more information about TABOR and its potentially devastating effect on Kansas, click here.

Grants for ESOL teacher training

The growing language minority population in Kansas has created a need for more teachers specially trained in English for Speakers of Other Languages. But finding those teachers remains a problem.

Into the discussion comes HB 2223, a bill which would provide grants to school districts that would pay the expenses of a teacher seeking an ESOL endorsement. Under this proposal if a school district reimburses a teacher for the cost of pursuing full ESOL endorsement, they district could apply to the State Board of Education for a grant to recoup those costs.

In testimony before the House Education Committee, KNEA lobbyist Terry Forsyth said, “When teachers are willing to take the time and effort to learn the skills necessary to teach this diverse group of students and bring them to proficiency, it is appropriate that there be financial assistance. Taking the time and making the effort to attain ESOL endorsement benefits the state, the district, and the students. But we should not expect teachers to dig into their own pockets to pay for such training.”

HPV vaccine

The House Health and Human Services Committee held a hearing on HB 2227, a bill that would require the Human Papilloma Virus vaccination for girls entering 6^th grade. This new vaccine provides protection against cervical cancer and certain sexually transmitted diseases. While the bill would require evidence of vaccination for school enrollment it also allows an opt-out for health or religious reasons.

Most of the opposition to the bill comes from those who worry that such vaccination encourages premarital sex. Texas Governor Rick Perry last week issued an executive order to require the vaccine in order to sidestep the sex debate in the Texas legislature.

A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) press release announcing the approval of the vaccine had this to say about HPV and cervical cancer:

HPV is the most common sexually-transmitted infection in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 6.2 million Americans become infected with genital HPV each year and that over half of all sexually active men and women become infected at some time in their lives.  On average, there are 9,710 new cases of cervical cancer and 3,700 deaths attributed to it in the United States each year. Worldwide, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women; and is estimated to cause over 470,000 new cases and 233,000 deaths each year.

To read the full FDA press release, click here.

For more information on HPV, click here to read the Centers for Disease Control Fact Sheet.

KNEA testified in favor of the bill saying, “KNEA believes that HB 2227 is an appropriate measure designed to protect the health of girls and women. Cervical cancer is a serious threat to women and, now that a vaccine is available which can prevent this terrible disease, it is right that the Legislature should act to protect our girls.”

Such a requirement is not without precedent. We have required a variety of vaccinations for school entry starting with the polio vaccine and mass tuberculosis screenings. Recent additions have been the Hepatitis B vaccine for elementary age children and the Meningitis vaccine for college students.

Dealing with nasty campaign calls

This week the Senate Elections Committee took up the issue of campaign phone calls.

Senate Bill 195 would require that express advocacy political phone calls – those advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate – contain a statement announcing the organization that paid for the call.

This is a little glitch in the campaign finance laws. Current law requires such notice on print materials but not phone calls. KNEA testified in favor of this provision as a campaign finance “clean up” measure.

Another section of the bill would ban all automatic political calls – the so-called “robocalls.” This last election saw a dramatic increase in the use of these calls and they were often quite nasty in nature. KNEA places one robocall in an election to our members urging them to vote.

KNEA urged the committee to consider a more limited measure that would address the nasty advocacy calls and still allow membership organizations such as KNEA and Kansans for Life and the political parties to make calls to their own members.

State Politics

House Committee declares Rardin the winner; Kriegshauser withdraws!

On Tuesday the Special House Committee reviewing the judge’s findings of fact in the challenge to Gene Rardin’s narrow victory in HD 16 issued a unanimous statement that Rardin won by either two or three votes.

Rardin was declared the winner after a canvass by four votes, then in a recount by three votes, and finally by a judge by two votes. Now a bipartisan House Committee says the same thing.

On Wednesday Republican challenger John Dennis Kriegshauser withdrew his challenge and thereby ended a call for a vote of the full House of Representatives. The recommendation to the full House was to declare Rardin the winner.

The Committee was made up of Republicans Mike O’Neal, Gary Hayzlett, and Jene Vickrey and Democrats Tom Sawyer, Mike Peterson, and Jim Ward.

Coming up next week!

Plenty to keep your lobbyists hopping!

Among the many bills getting hearings next week:

HB 2090, requiring schools to will conduct physical fitness test including height/weight and calculation of BMI in grades 4, 7, 9, and 12 and to report the data to state; schools would also have to report the number of teachers certified to teach PE and how many hours they are teaching PE.

HB 2275, requiring that all vending machines be turned off during school hours unless it only dispenses water.

HB 2343, giving a student who graduates from HS one year early $1000 to buy tools for use as a building trades worker and, if he/she then completes a building trades program or union apprenticeship, he/she gets $3000

SB 144 extends the statewide 20 mill property tax levy for schools

SB 170, restricts the sale of beverages during the school day

HB 2310 defines bullying and requires all schools to adopt and implement a plan to eliminate bullying; requires schools to survey students annually on effectiveness of program and report to state

SB 171 requires schools to provide fresh fruits and vegetables that have not been deep fried to students but not at meal times

SB 282 creates special ed vouchers (a bill by Senator Chris Steineger)

HB 2253 creates special ed vouchers (a bill by Reps. Lance Kinzer, Steve Brunk, Richard Carlson, John Faber, Ben Hodge, Steve Huebert, Kasha Kelley, Mike Kiegerl, Peggy Mast, Ty Masterson, and Jason Watkins)

HB 2298 would allow Kansans over 65 years of age to defer property taxes

SB 281 is the same as HB 2090 above but also would require in grades K-6 200 minutes of PE every 10 school days and in grades 7-12 400 minutes of PE every 10 school days

This week’s links:

Want to read what the legislators read?

Click here to read the At-Risk Council’s report.

Click here to read the report of the Technical College and Vocational School Commission.

Want to be a legislative know-it-all?

Subscibe to Under the Dome, KNEA’s daily legislative report.

Funding Issues:

At-risk dominates the week in funding talks – first in Senate Ed…

Early in the week the Senate Education Committee held a hearing on Senate Bill 68, a bill extending the non-proficient at-risk weighting.

Under current law, this weighting sunsets at the end of the school year. The weighting provides additional at-risk funding to districts for each student who is not eligible for free lunch but has not scored proficient on the math or reading state assessments. It was established primarily for the benefit of school districts with low poverty rates but is available to all school districts.

KNEA and KASB both testified in favor of the bill. The 2010 Commission, the At-Risk Council, and the Legislative Education Planning Committee all suggested that the weighting be extended for another two years and studied for its effectiveness.

…then in the Senate K-12 Task Force

The Task Force, which has spent a couple week focusing on at-risk funding, also talked about Senate Bill 68.

Senator Teichman referenced the recommendation to study the effectiveness of the non-proficient at-risk weighting and suggested that, even if the sunset were taken off indefinitely, the bill should include a requirement to review effectiveness.

Some members of the Task Force thought if the program had ongoing funding that meant the legislature would study it. Senator Hensley asked why one piece of SB 549 (last year’s finance bill) would be extended indefinitely while the others ended at the end of the three years.

A motion by Senator Vratil to support Senate Bill 68 failed on a vote of 3 to 4 with Hensley, Peterson, Schmidt, and Betts voting no; Teichman, Vratil, and Jordan voting yes. The Task Force then decided to simply take no position on SB 68. Those voting “no” wanted to keep their recommendation closer to that of the various commissions.

Teichman asked that the Task Force revisit the issue later this week. They will take it up for discussion on Thursday.

Senator Vratil then took the discussion back to his position on free lunch for at-risk funding purposes. Vratil’s contention is that there is no correlation between poverty and academic success.

Vratil would like to take the funding off of poverty and use only indicators that a child is “at-risk.” Under his proposal, a child would have to demonstrate failure or be in imminent danger of failing before a district would get at-risk funding.

Because school districts – particularly large districts with a high percentage of children in poverty – routinely use at-risk funding for class size reduction or all day kindergarten, it is not unusual to note that they are serving more students than they have students in poverty. Vratil’s plan would result in significant losses to high poverty districts thereby limiting the district’s ability to implement prevention programs.

Next up was Senate Bill 93 which provides for a cleaner, linear transition in the high-density at-risk weighting. The Task Force endorsed Senate Bill 93 which is supported by KNEA. The Senate Education Committee will hold a hearing on Senate Bill 93 next Tuesday.

Jordan then brought up the possibility of a grant program to encourage districts to work with community organizations that serve at-risk students to connect with the district. The Task Force indicated that were interested in exploring such a program and Senator Jordan will bring more information at a later date.

House Ed subcommittee considers accreditation and NCLB

A House Education Committee Subcommittee formed by committee Chairman Clay Aurand met on Tuesday to discuss and come to a conclusion about HB 2015. This bill was crafted ostensibly to decouple state accreditation decisions from No Child Left Behind.

The Subcommittee considered a number of issues including just how close the link between accreditation and NCLB is, and determined that, while they had some concerns, there was still more to find out.

KNEA spoke to the Subcommittee on the issues in HB 2015. Subcommittee Chairman Bill Otto asked KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti to provide the committee with summaries of federal bills filed to change NCLB.

The subcommittee is recommending that a resolution be crafted calling on the State Board of Education to review NCLB and the reauthorization efforts and to make a report to the legislature next year on the implications for Kansas.

Full House Ed Committee also studies NCLB

The House Education Committee met the next day to hear from the State Department of Education on the No Child Left Behind Act and its link to the Kansas school accreditation system.

It was a long meeting! Legislators had lots of questions about the current and potential impact of NCLB as it goes forward. The meeting was scheduled just as a way to bring members of the committee up to speed on some rather complex and often confusing issues.

Tax Issues:

More tax cuts under consideration in Senate Tax Committee

The House Tax Committee held a hearing on HCR 5006 a constitutional amendment that would limit residential property valuation increases to the consumer price index.

It sounds good, doesn’t it? Except that local units of government – cities, counties, and schools – all depend on local property taxes. Valuation increases can be limited but such limits do not reduce the need for police and fire protection, road improvement, and other local government services including schools that are paid for primarily through property taxes.

If valuations are limited, then the only recourse left to cities, counties, and schools is to increase mill levies. So in reality capping your valuation will not decrease your taxes. It just makes local government officials look like evil tax raisers!

In this session, as in every legislative session, there are multiple tax cut or limit proposals but no discussion of how the state or local governments will keep up with services – services like schools, highways, public safety, and caring for the poor, disabled, or elderly – with the reduction in revenue.

This year there are over 30 bills now pending that would phase out or reduce a variety of business taxes, limit property taxes, and add sales tax exemptions.

What’s the bottom line for KNEA? We will not support decisions that erode the tax base for public education or other vital state services.

We specifically oppose the passage of HCR 5006 without a move to offset the loss in revenue to local  units of government. Since public education depends to a large extent on property taxes – both through the statewide 20 mill levy and through local efforts including the LOB, ancillary facilities weighting, the cost of living weighting, declining enrollment weighting and a variety of local bond issues – we cannot support limitations on property taxes that are not offset by other adjustments in the tax system.

KNEA continues to believe that the legislature should make a comprehensive examination of the entire tax system to ensure that our many provisions result in a system that will provide stable funding for all state services and that is fair to both citizens and business.

Bills moving along

Passed out of the Senate Ed Committee with a favorable recommendation:

Senate Bill 22 – matching grants for teacher preparation programs wanting to expand;

Senate Bill 23 – consolidation of a variety of teacher scholarships into one program.

No motion made to take any action:

SB 70 – letting neighboring school districts bring in buses to take students to their districts.

Other bills being heard

On timely teacher pay 

  The Senate Education Committee held a hearing on SB 109 which would allow school districts to pay teachers on the first regularly scheduled pay date. Current law doesn’t allow teachers to be paid until September so new teachers can work nearly two months before getting paid.

KASB and KNEA both testified in favor of the bill but no action was taken this week.

School safety amendments 

A second bill heard by the Senate Ed Committee, SB 129, would modify the school safety and security act by allowing law enforcement up to 10 days to investigate and report to the department of vehicles when a student brings a weapon, drug, or controlled substance onto school property or a school sponsored activity. In addition the proposal would allow failure to meet the 10 day timeline as a reason not to suspend the student’s driver’s license.

The bill came about after a case in which a student had served a suspension for one year and completed his term of probation only to find himself subject to a later one year driver’s license suspension when the school security force finally got around to notifying the department of vehicles.

KNEA supported the bill as a means to give law enforcement ample time to investigate while preserving the rights of the accused.

More work will be done on the bill to be sure that schools are kept weapon and drug free and that students are treated fairly. We’ll look for this bill to come back later with suggested amendments.

Dealing with nasty campaign calls

The House Elections and Governmental Organization Committee held hearings on two bills dealing with campaign phone calls.

The first, HB 2197, would require that express advocacy political phone calls – those advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate – contain a statement announcing the organization that paid for the call and require the phone vendor to keep records on who paid for the calls.

This is a little glitch in the campaign finance laws. Current law requires such notice on print materials but not phone calls. KNEA testified in favor of the bill as a campaign finance “clean up” measure.

The second bill, HB 2198, would ban all automatic political calls – the so-called “robocalls.” This last election saw a dramatic increase in the use of these calls and they were often quite nasty in nature. KNEA places one robocall in an election to our members urging them to vote.

KNEA urged the committee to consider a more limited measure that would address the nasty advocacy calls and still allow membership organizations such as KNEA and Kansans for Life and the political parties to make calls to their own members.

State Politics

Republican Party veers hard right at annual meeting

The Republican Party held its annual “Kansas Day” celebration last weekend and, despite the rejection by Kansas voters of the right wing of the party on election day (see the defeat of Jim Barnett, Phill Kline and Jim Ryun in particular), elected Kris Kobach to replace Tim Shallenburger as party chairman. Kobach, a law professor in Missouri and failed congressional candidate, is most noted for his anti-immigrant work.

Kobach, a representative of the furthest right wing of the Kansas Republican Party, has already managed a coup of Party leadership. Six of the eight seats on the Party’s executive committee are now held by board members of the Kansas Republican Assembly, the right-leaning splinter GOP group organized by the most conservative of Republicans. The only members of the executive committee who are not KRA members are Kobach and Ray LeBouef the one-time challenger to Democratic State Senator Greta Goodwin.

In his victory speech, Kobach told the assembled Party activists, "A party leader should never prostitute himself or his views merely in the quest for personal power," a clear reference to new Lieutenant Governor Mark Parkinson who switched parties to join the Sebelius ticket. Parkinson was Republican Party Chair in 2002.

In a response to the comments, Sebelius spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran said, "It's statements like that, that have led Mark Parkinson to leave."

Kobach has also reportedly suggested that the Party might target moderate Republicans for defeat; something that is never done. At one time the National Republican Assembly pulled the charter of the KRA for going after a pro-choice Republican.

To see just how conservative the new GOP state leadership is, just examine the proposed resolutions that were put off until summer because a Brownback staffer made a motion to adjourn the meeting:

• One resolution would express appreciation to Phill Kline for his anti-abortion work;
• A second resolution would express displeasure with Kansas National Republican Committeeman Steve Cloud for his politics and work on the RNC (Cloud backed moderate Republicans for office);
• A third resolution would censure Senator Sam Brownback for his “liberal” stance on immigration.

The conservative wing of the Party apparently believes that the appropriate reaction to their electoral defeat in November is to consolidate control over the Party and purge it of moderates. This is not good news for pro-public education Republicans.

The Chronicles of Rardin

House Speaker Melvin Neufeld appointed the House Committee that is reviewing the findings of fact in the 16^th House District. This is the race that Democrat Gene Rardin won over Conservative Republican Dennis Kriegshauser by four votes which turned into three votes after a recount. Kriegshauser went to court and, after a review by a Johnson County district judge, Rardin was again declared the winner by two votes.

Since the judge simply issues findings of fact the decision to review those findings goes to a special committee in the House of Representatives. That committee will decide to accept or overturn the judge’s findings and make a recommendation to the full House. Should the full House overturn the election, watch for all work to come to a grinding partisan halt.

The review committee is chaired by Republican Representative Mike O’Neal – Hutchinson. The two other Republican are Gary Hayzlett (Lakin) and Jene Vickrey (Lousiburg). Democrats are Tom Sawyer (Wichita ), Jim Ward (Wichita ), and Mike Peterson (Kansas City ).

Coming up next week!

Plenty to keep your lobbyists hopping!

Among the many bills getting hearings next week:

HB 2223: Grants to school districts for teachers pursuing ESOL endorsements

HB 2276: Another local property tax for some school districts (will we cap those valuations?)

HB 2227: Requiring an HPV vaccination for girls in 6^th grade

HB 2260: No lobbyists paid for with tax dollars (goodbye KASB lobbyists!)

SB 93: That linear transition at-risk bill (see funding issues)

SB 142: Changing the cost of living weighting calculation

SB 207: Mandatory kindergarten attendance and lowering the compulsory attendance age to 6

This week’s links:

Subscibe to Under the Dome, KNEA’s daily legislative report.

Everything you want to know about the Kansas legislature is right here!

Funding Issues:

Full House passes education “lock box”

When the full House took up SB 30 as amended in the House Appropriations Committee, a number of floor amendments were tried but most were rejected as not germane to the bill (rules prohibit two subjects to be in the same bill) while others were voted down.

The next day SB 30 passed the House on a vote of 105 to 17. This House version is different from that passed by the Senate, setting up the need for a Conference Committee to work out the differences.

The Senate version would set aside $122.7 million for the third year of the school finance plan. The House Committee amended so that it sets aside about $348 million to pay for both years two and three of the school finance bill and additional money to pay off the bonds from the Board of Regents crumbling classrooms initiative.

The crumbling classroom money is not to provide for the deferred maintenance needs of today – needs that caused a serious power outage at Kansas State University yesterday when an aging pipe burst. This money is to pay off the bonds issued the last time maintenance needs were addressed. At that time, the legislature crafted a list of projects to be completed with the “crumbling classrooms” intitative funds.

The Senate version of SB 30 assumes that this year’s legislature will fund year two of the finance plan as part of “business as usual.”

Senate Ed passes bill to help extend local property tax mill levies for cost of living and declining enrollment

The Senate Education Committee acted to assist the five school districts that currently levy a local property tax for the cost of living adjustment and/or declining enrollment.

The legislation that enabled these districts to access the money also set them up for the distinct possibility of losing it. Districts using these weightings were required to have the maximum LOB – 30% this year but 31% next year. Since that LOB increase is subject to an election, the district could lose their cost of living or declining enrollment money if the vote to move the LOB from 30 to 31% were to fail.

Senate Bill 69 would take the LOB requirement from the state maximum to “at least 25%” thereby saving the weightings for those districts. KNEA supports this legislation which was passed out of committee favorably. Look for it on the Senate floor early next week.

Tax Issues:

More tax cuts under consideration in Senate Tax Committee

The Senate Tax Committee held a hearing on SCR 1602, a constitutional amendment that would require the legislature to limit residential property valuation increases for all Kansans over age 65.

As in every legislative session, there are multiple tax cut or limit proposals but no discussion of how the state will keep up with services – services like schools, highways, public safety, and caring for the poor, disabled, or elderly – with the reduction in revenue.

This year they are considering phasing out or reducing a variety of business taxes, limiting property taxes, and adding sales tax exemptions.

What’s the bottom line for KNEA? We will not support decisions that erode the tax base for public education or other vital state services.

We specifically oppose the passage of SCR 1602 without a move to offset the loss in revenue to local  units of government. Since public education depends to a large extent on property taxes – both through the statewide 20 mill levy and through local efforts including the LOB, ancillary facilities weighting, the cost of living weighting, declining enrollment weighting and a variety of local bond issues – we cannot support limitations on property taxes that are not offset by other adjustments in the tax system.

KNEA continues to believe that the legislature should make a comprehensive examination of the entire tax system to ensure that our many provisions result in a system that will provide stable funding for all state services and that is fair to both citizens and business.

At-Risk discussion dominates

Senate Task Force hears from the field on at-risk

The Senate K-12 Task Force spent most of the week examining at-risk funding. Chairman Nick Jordan (R-Shawnee) invited representatives of various education organizations to come before the Task Force and talk about at-risk funding or programs.

Taking him up on the offer were Mark Tallman of KASB, Mark Desetti of KNEA, Diane Gjerstad of USD 259 Wichita, Bill Reardon of USD 500 Kansas City, and Bill Brady of Schools for Fair Funding.

Everyone supported continuing to fund at-risk programs on the basis of poverty (currently school districts receive a weighting for every free-lunch student). KASB and KNEA also advocated for the extension of the non-proficient at-risk weighting under which districts receive a weighting for non-poverty students who are below proficient on state assessments. Schools for Fair Funding asked that that weighting not be extended until after the state provides regular at-risk funding to the level called for in the Legislative Post Audit study.

A few legislators have suggested funding at-risk programs on the basis of indicators (such as low test scores) instead of poverty. The only state with such a program is Georgia. Most states use either poverty alone or a combination known as “poverty plus.”

KNEA supports the poverty plus funding method. Said KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti, “Funding on poverty allows school districts to provide preventative programs like all day kindergarten; the non-proficient weighting allows for intervention programs.”

Senator John Vratil (R-Leawood) had challenged Desetti for asserting that there is a correlation between poverty and academic achievement and suggested he should bring evidence.

Later in the week Desetti was given the opportunity to provide research evidence that there was such a correlation.

Desetti presented the Task Force with four studies and quoted from the abstracts of each (click on the word “from” to see the study):

From a 2005 study: “Researchers and practicing educators have long known of the strong link between family background characteristics, particularly family economic status, and the academic achievement of students.”

From another 2005 study: “Our baseline estimates imply that a $1,000 increase in income raises math test scores by 2.1 percent and reading test scores by 3.6 percent of a standard deviation.”

From a 1999 study: “Results revealed that when maternal education and early childhood behaviour were controlled, poverty had an effect on both academic failure and extreme delinquency.”

From a 1992 study: “I find that the amount of time spent in poverty has a significant and negative effect on the child’s academic achievement.”

Vratil, in his rebuttal, called the studies the “opinions” of researchers and again cited data from the Legislative Post Audit Division that there is not a positive correlation between the number of students on free lunch and the number of students served in at-risk programs in Kansas .

Anyone have a Kansas-centric study out there?

At-risk discussion brings in Andy Tompkins

Former Education Commissioner Andy Tompkins made a series of appearances in the capitol this week in his role as Chairman of the At-Risk Council.

First stop was the House Education Committee, then the Senate Education Committee, and finally the Senate K-12 Task Force. At each meeting Tompkins shared the recommendations of the Council:

1. The Council recommends that the second level of funding for at-risk students, which is the high density formula, be based on the prior year's data and implemented using a linear transition calculation. The Council believes that the density formula needs to be reviewed periodically to ensure that it is taking into account all areas of the state and that it is adding value to student learning.
2. The Council affirms that the third level of funding, Non-Proficient At-Risk Weighting, be for students who are below proficiency and not on free lunch. Also, the Council recommends that the 2010 Commission study the impact of this provision and the formula which distributes the funding should be simplified if the weighting remains in effect beyond its current statutory termination date of June 30, 2007. Further, the Council notes that the student improvement team practice currently utilized in the schools should be helpful in identifying the results of this initiative.
3. The Council recommends the continued support of the data system being developed and implemented by the Kansas State Department of Education as a critical component in the ongoing understanding of the achievement gap of at-risk students. Furthermore, the Council supports the implementation of 2006 SB 549 which requires the State Department of Education to provide performance and financial accountability for the use of at-risk funding. Additionally, the Council recommends that the Kansas State Department of Education be supported in its efforts to be a resource for schools in identifying successful programs of education and strategies for helping at-risk students.
4. The Council recommends that the Department of Education periodically reevaluate the existing criteria for the determination of a student to be in need of at-risk services to include consideration of the use of at-risk funds on specific professional development to serve at-risk students such as behavior management training.
5. The Council recommends that the 2010 Commission authorize follow-up studies on early career teachers who leave the profession to determine what factors contribute to their leaving, as well as successful practices needed to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers.
6. The Council recommends that the 2010 Commission authorize a study to determine the factors contributing to the achievement gap and lack of progress in student achievement at the high school level.

A number of the recommendations have already found their way into proposed legislation. Specifically, the legislature is considering SB 93 which implements the linear transition in recommendation 1 and SB 68 which extends the non-proficient at-risk weighting and simplifies the formula as suggested in recommendation 2. In addition the legislature is now conducting, in the Senate K-12 Task Force, a review of eligibility criteria called for in recommendation 4.

Click here to read the At-Risk Council’s report.

Other bills being heard

House Ed hears bill to decouple accreditation and NCLB

The House Education Committee held a hearing on HB 2015, a school accreditation bill which would change “standards” to “goals” for accreditation purposes. The intent, as explained by Sen. John Vratil (R-Leawood) would be to prevent the State Board of Education from using an accreditation system aligned with the federal No Child Left Behind Act. A second section of the bill deals with how the state and local school districts should deal with NCLB and other under- and un-funded federal mandates.

The committee had so many questions and concerns about different parts of the bill that Committee Chairman Clay Aurand (R-Courtland) chose to form a subcommittee to review the matter. The subcommittee will meet Tuesday of next week. Subcommittee members are Bill Otto (R-Leroy), Chairman, Deena Horst (R-Salina), Marc Rhoades (R-Newton), Sue Storm (D-Overland Park ), and Ann Mah (D-Topeka).

House Ed takes up employees serving on school boards

The House also took up HB 2022 which would allow low-income school employees to serve on their employing school board but not let a school board member who owns a company to hold a contract with the district, it would prohibit an employee of a contractor who has a contract with a school district from serving on the board.

KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti asked the committee to amend the bill by striking the income limitation on school employees elected to serve. “If a $6000 employee can serve and avoid conflicts of interest than so can a $6,100 employee or a $26,000 employee,” Desetti told the committee.

KNEA also asked that the section on business owners be amended to simply prohibit them from voting on the contract if they serve on the board and that the prohibition on employees of contractors simply be stricken.

No action was taken on the bill.

Senate Education hears teacher scholarship bills

The Senate Education Committee heard SB 22 and SB 23, dealing with expanding teacher preparation programs and providing scholarships to prospective teachers.

Senate Bill 22 provides matching grant money to teacher preparation programs seeking to expand. Most teacher training programs are at capacity now.

Senate Bill 23 consolidates a number of teacher scholarship programs and makes them better. Under these consolidated scholarships teachers would be able to access money to seek new endorsements or pursue a masters degree provided they are in shortage areas either by endorsement or for service in an area experiencing a severe teacher shortage as determined by the State Board of Education.

KNEA testified in favor of both bills. There were no opponents.

No action was taken at this time.

Senate Ed considers wide-open school choice bill.

The Senate Ed Committee held a hearing on SB 70 by Senator Phil Journey (R-Haysville) which would allow a district to drive buses into neighboring school districts to pick up kids who want to attend their district. Current law allows the buses in only under inter-district agreements or if a child lives at least 10 miles away from the nearest school in his home district and less than 10 miles from a school in the neighboring district.

KNEA testified against the bill suggesting that it would encourage student recruitment for everything from athletics to academics to simply saving yourself from declining enrollment. KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti called the proposal “a solution in search of a problem.”

It was noted that under current law any child can attend school in a neighboring district if the district will have the student but the child will have to provide for his or her own transportation.

No action will be taken on the bill until next week.

Politics as usual?

Tossing a political bomb in the House

A Johnson County district judge has issued findings of fact declaring that Democrat Gene Rardin defeated Republican Dennis Kriegshauser by two votes.

The findings now go to a House Committee (evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans) that will review them and make a recommendation to the full House. The full House – currently overwhelmingly Republican – would vote on that recommendation. The recommendation could be to reject the findings and declare Kriegshauser the winner. If the House accepts that recommendation, look for any chance for good will and bipartisanship to go out the window. If Rardin were removed and replaced by a Republican, Democrats would lose one seat on the Appropriations, Tax, Judiciary, and Federal and State Affairs Committees.

Rardin has been declared the winner now three times – by four votes after the official canvass, by three votes after a recount, and now by two votes after review by a judge.

This week’s links:

Subscibe to Under the Dome, KNEA’s daily legislative report.

Everything you want to know about the Kansas legislature is right here!

Funding Issues:

Full House passes education “lock box”

When the full House took up SB 30 as amended in the House Appropriations Committee, a number of floor amendments were tried but most were rejected as not germane to the bill (rules prohibit two subjects to be in the same bill) while others were voted down.

The next day SB 30 passed the House on a vote of 105 to 17. This House version is different from that passed by the Senate, setting up the need for a Conference Committee to work out the differences.

The Senate version would set aside $122.7 million for the third year of the school finance plan. The House Committee amended so that it sets aside about $348 million to pay for both years two and three of the school finance bill and additional money to pay of the bonds from the Board of Regents crumbling classrooms initiative.

The crumbling classroom money is not to provide for the deferred maintenance needs of today – needs that caused a serious power outage at Kansas State University yesterday when an aging pipe burst. This money is to pay off the bonds issued the last time maintenance needs were addressed. At that time, the legislature crafted a list of projects to be completed with the “crumbling classrooms” intitative funds.

The Senate version of SB 30 assumes that this year’s legislature will fund year two of the finance plan as part of “business as usual.”

Senate Ed passes bill to help extend local property tax mill levies for cost of living and declining enrollment

The Senate Education Committee acted to assist the five school districts that currently levy a local property tax for the cost of living adjustment and/or declining enrollment.

The legislation that enabled these districts to access the money also set them up for the distinct possibility of losing it. Districts using these weightings were required to have the maximum LOB – 30% this year but 31% next year. Since that LOB increase is subject to an election, the district could lose their cost of living or declining enrollment money if the vote to move the LOB from 30 to 31% were to fail.

Senate Bill 69 would take the LOB requirement from the state maximum to “at least 25%” thereby saving the weightings for those districts. KNEA supports this legislation which was passed out of committee favorably this afternoon. Look for it on the Senate floor early next week.

Tax Issues:

More tax cuts under consideration in Senate Tax Committee

The Senate Tax Committee held a hearing on SCR 1602, a constitutional amendment that would require the legislature to limit residential property valuation increases for all Kansans over age 65.

As in every legislative session, there are multiple tax cut or limit proposals but no discussion of how the state will keep up with services – services like schools, highways, public safety, and caring for the poor, disabled, or elderly – with the reduction in revenue.

This year they are considering phasing out or reducing a variety of business taxes, limiting property taxes, and adding sales tax exemptions.

What’s the bottom line for KNEA? We will not support decisions that erode the tax base for public education or other vital state services.

We specifically oppose the passage of SCR 1602 without a move to offset the loss in revenue to local  units of government. Since public education depends to a large extent on property taxes – both through the statewide 20 mill levy and through local efforts including the LOB, ancillary facilities weighting, the cost of living weighting, declining enrollment weighting and a variety of local bond issues – we cannot support limitations on property taxes that are not offset by other adjustments in the tax system.

KNEA continues to believe that the legislature should make a comprehensive examination of the entire tax system to ensure that our many provisions result in a system that will provide stable funding for all state services and that is fair to both citizens and business.

At-Risk discussion dominates

Senate Task Force hears from the field on at-risk

The Senate K-12 Task Force spent most of the week examining at-risk funding. Chairman Nick Jordan (R-Shawnee) invited representatives of various education organizations to come before the Task Force and talk about at-risk funding or programs.

Taking him up on the offer were Mark Tallman of KASB, Mark Desetti of KNEA, Diane Gjerstad of USD 295 Wichita, Bill Reardon of USD 500 Kansas City, and Bill Brady of Schools for Fair Funding.

Everyone supported continuing to fund at-risk programs on the basis of poverty (currently school districts receive a weighting for every free-lunch student). KASB and KNEA also advocated for the extension of the non-proficient at-risk weighting under which districts receive a weighting for non-poverty students who are below proficient on state assessments. Schools for Fair Funding asked that that weighting not be extended until after the state provides regular at-risk funding to the level called for in the Legislative Post Audit study.

A few legislators have suggested funding at-risk programs on the basis of indicators (such as low test scores) instead of poverty. The only state with such a program is Georgia. Most states use either poverty alone or a combination known as “poverty plus.”

KNEA supports the poverty plus funding method. Said KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti, “Funding on poverty allows school districts to provide preventative programs like all day kindergarten; the non-proficient weighting allows for intervention programs.”

Senator John Vratil (R-Leawood) had challenged Desetti for asserting that there is a correlation between poverty and academic achievement and suggested he should bring evidence.

Later in the week Desetti was given the opportunity to provide research evidence that there was such a correlation.

Desetti presented the Task Force with four studies and quoted from the abstracts of each (click on the word “from” to see the study):

From a 2005 study: “Researchers and practicing educators have long known of the strong link between family background characteristics, particularly family economic status, and the academic achievement of students.”

From another 2005 study: “Our baseline estimates imply that a $1,000 increase in income raises math test scores by 2.1 percent and reading test scores by 3.6 percent of a standard deviation.”

From a 1999 study: “Results revealed that when maternal education and early childhood behaviour were controlled, poverty had an effect on both academic failure and extreme delinquency.”

From a 1992 study: “I find that the amount of time spent in poverty has a significant and negative effect on the child’s academic achievement.”

Vratil, in his rebuttal, called the studies the “opinions” of researchers and again cited data from the Legislative Post Audit Division that there is not a positive correlation between the number of students on free lunch and the number of students served in at-risk programs in Kansas .

Anyone have a Kansas-centric study out there?

At-risk discussion brings in Andy Tompkins

Former Education Commissioner Andy Tompkins made a series of appearances in the capitol this week in his role as Chairman of the At-Risk Council.

First stop was the House Education Committee, then the Senate Education Committee, and finally the Senate K-12 Task Force. At each meeting Tompkins shared the recommendations of the Council:

1. The Council recommends that the second level of funding for at-risk students, which is the high density formula, be based on the prior year's data and implemented using a linear transition calculation. The Council believes that the density formula needs to be reviewed periodically to ensure that it is taking into account all areas of the state and that it is adding value to student learning.
2. The Council affirms that the third level of funding, Non-Proficient At-Risk Weighting, be for students who are below proficiency and not on free lunch. Also, the Council recommends that the 2010 Commission study the impact of this provision and the formula which distributes the funding should be simplified if the weighting remains in effect beyond its current statutory termination date of June 30, 2007. Further, the Council notes that the student improvement team practice currently utilized in the schools should be helpful in identifying the results of this initiative.
3. The Council recommends the continued support of the data system being developed and implemented by the Kansas State Department of Education as a critical component in the ongoing understanding of the achievement gap of at-risk students. Furthermore, the Council supports the implementation of 2006 SB 549 which requires the State Department of Education to provide performance and financial accountability for the use of at-risk funding. Additionally, the Council recommends that the Kansas State Department of Education be supported in its efforts to be a resource for schools in identifying successful programs of Education and strategies for helping at-risk students.
4. The Council recommends that the Department of Education periodically reevaluate the existing criteria for the determination of a student to be in need of at-risk services to include consideration of the use of at-risk funds on specific professional development to serve at-risk students such as behavior management training.
5. The Council recommends that the 2010 Commission authorize follow-up studies on early career teachers who leave the profession to determine what factors contribute to their leaving, as well as, successful practices needed to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers.
6. The Council recommends that the 2010 Commission authorize a study to determine the factors contributing to the achievement gap and lack of progress in student achievement at the high school level.

A number of the recommendations have already found their way into proposed legislation. Specifically, the legislature is considering SB 93 which implements the linear transition in recommendation 1 and SB 68 which extends the non-proficient at-risk weighting and simplifies the formula as suggested in recommendation 2. In addition the legislature is now conducting, in the Senate K-12 Task Force, a review of eligibility criteria called for in recommendation 4.

Click here to read the At-Risk Council’s report.

Other bills being heard

House Ed hears bill to decouple accreditation and NCLB

The House Education Committee held a hearing on HB 2015, a school accreditation bill which would change “standards” to “goals” for accreditation purposes. The intent, as explained by Sen. John Vratil (R-Leawood) would be to prevent the State Board of Education from using an accreditation system aligned with the federal No Child Left Behind Act. A second section of the bill deals with how the state and local school districts should deal with NCLB and other under and un-funded federal mandates.

The committee had so many questions and concerns about different parts of the bill that Committee Chairman Clay Aurand (R-Courtland) chose to form a subcommittee to review the matter. The subcommittee will meet Tuesday of next week. Subcommittee members are Bill Otto (R-Leroy), Chairman, Deena Horst (R-Salina), Marc Rhoades (R-Newton), Sue Storm (D-Overland Park ), and Ann Mah (D-Topeka).

House Ed takes up employees serving on school boards

The House also took up HB 2022 which would allow low-income school employees to serve on their employing school board but not let a school board member who owns a company to hold a contract with the district, it would prohibit an employee of a contractor who has a contract with a school district from serving on the board.

KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti asked the committee to amend the bill by striking the income limitation on school employees elected to serve. “If a $6000 employee can serve and avoid conflicts of interest than so can a $6,100 employee or a $26,000 employee,” Desetti told the committee.

KNEA also asked that the section on business owners be amended to simply prohibit them from voting on the contract if they serve on the board and that the prohibition on employees of contractors simply be stricken.

No action was taken on the bill.

Senate Education hears teacher scholarship bills

The Senate Education Committee heard SB 22 and SB 23, dealing with expanding teacher preparation programs and providing scholarships to prospective teachers.

Senate Bill 22 provides matching grant money to teacher preparation programs seeking to expand. Most teacher training programs are at capacity now.

Senate Bill 23 consolidates a number of teacher scholarship programs and makes them better. Under these consolidated scholarships teachers would be able to access money to seek new endorsements or pursue a masters degree provided they are in shortage areas either by endorsement or for service in an area experience a severe teacher shortage as determined by the State Board of Education.

KNEA testified in favor of both bills. There were no opponents.

No action was taken at this time.

Senate Ed considers wide-open school choice bill.

The Senate Ed Committee held a hearing on SB 70 by Senator Phil Journey (R-Haysville) which would allow a district to drive buses into neighboring school districts to pick up kids who want to attend their district. Current law allows the buses in only under inter-district agreements or if a child lives at least 10 miles away from the nearest school in his home district and less than 10 miles from a school in the neighboring district.

KNEA testified against the bill suggesting that it would encourage student recruitment for everything from athletics to academics to simply saving yourself from declining enrollment. KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti called the proposal “a solution in search of a problem.”

It was noted that under current law any child can attend school in a neighboring district if the district will have the student but the child will have to provide for his or her own transportation.

No action will be taken on the bill until next week.

Politics as usual?

Tossing a political bomb in the House

A Johnson County district judge has issued findings of fact declaring that Democrat Gene Rardin defeated Republican Dennis Kriegshauser by two votes.

The findings now go to a House Committee (evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans) that will review them and make a recommendation to the full House. The full House – currently overwhelmingly Republican – would vote on that recommendation. The recommendation could be to reject the findings and declare Kriegshauser the winner. If the House accepts that recommendation, look for any chance for good will and bipartisanship to go out the window. If Rardin were removed and replaced by a Republican, Democrats would lose one seat on the Appropriations, Tax, Judiciary, and Federal and State Affairs Committees.

Rardin has been declared the winner now three times – by four votes after the official canvass, by three votes after a recount, and now by two votes after review by a judge.

A week of studying, calling for studies, and establishing study committees

“STUDY” is the word of the week Under the Dome as Senate President Steven Morris’ task forces set to work studying K-12 and Higher Education, the Tax Committees study tax policy with the Department of Revenue, and the House Education Committee hears bills setting up independent bodies to study Technical Education and English as a Second Language Education.

Task Forces Under Way

In an unusual twist this year, Senate President Steve Morris (R-Hugoton) established special task forces to study both K-12 Education and Higher Education. Both task forces are charged with bringing recommendations to the Senate by February 1. The task force membership is as follows:

• K-12 education: Chair Nick Jordan, R-Shawnee, members Mike Petersen, R-Wichita, Vicki Schmidt, R-Topeka, Ruth Teichman, R-Stafford, John Vratil, R-Leawood, Don Betts, D-Wichita, Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka.
• Higher Education: Chair, Jean Schodorf, R-Wichita, Barbara Allen, R-Overland Park, Pat Apple, R-Louisburg, Karin Brownlee, R-Olathe, David Wysong, R-Leawood, Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence, Janis Lee, D-Kensington.

This week – and next – the Higher Education Task Force is studying the deferred maintenance needs of the Universities while the K-12 Task Force is focusing on at-risk funding and programs. Later the K-12 Task Force will turn its attention to early childhood education.

Neither task force has yet made any recommendations. They are expected to have a report with recommendations for the Senate on February 1.

Morris also established a task force on health care. The members are:

• Health Care: Chair, Jim Barnett, R-Emporia; members Pete Brungardt, R-Salina, Julia Lynn, R-Olathe, Roger Pine, R-Lawrence, Roger Reitz, R-Manhattan, David Haley, D-Kansas City, Laura Kelly, D-Topeka.

House Ed Study Bills

The trend these days seems to be to establish other groups to study the issues and provide reports to the Legislature. Last time around they established the 2010 Commission to study all education issues and the At-Risk Council to study at-risk programs and funding. Both of those Committees/Commissions/Councils have provided reports to the Legislature this year.

The House Education Committee heard HB 2014, a bill to extend the work of the Technical College Commission until 2008 and HB 2017, a bill establishing an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Commission. Both Commissions would study issues related to their topic and bring recommendations back to the full Legislature. The Technical College Commission has been meeting over the summer and fall of 2006.

No action was taken on either bill.

Tax committees study and hear first tax cut bill

The Tax Committees are mostly in their study mode these days, hearing from the Department of Revenue on tax trends in Kansas and the impact of various tax sources on the state’s revenue stream.

But can tax cutters be far behind? Of course not! They’re already busy finding ways to reduce revenue to the state. Among the ideas so far this year:

• A proposal to stop taxing social security benefits. It sounds good but the truth is that it benefits only higher income individuals in that those living on their social security alone are not currently paying taxes on the benefit – it’s not big enough!
• A proposal for a “sales tax holiday.” Again, this sounds great since it is usually designed to allow parents to buy school supplies and not pay sales tax for a limited period during the year. But an examination of such provisions in other states shows that retailers stop or reduce “back to school sales” which actually save consumers more money than the sales tax holiday and that revenue losses are enormous because the opportunity is open to everyone and often includes some big-ticket items such as personal computers.
• HB 2031 and SB 50, repeal of the business franchise tax. These two bills are this year’s elimination of yet another source of revenue to the state. Both bills repeal a tax on businesses and will result in a significant loss of revenue to the state. Since there are no plans to make up this lost revenue on the state level the resulting loss of funds will create cuts to services or force local units of government to increase local property taxes to preserve services.

In hearings on HB 2031 and SB 50, Mark Tallman of KASB, speaking on behalf of both KASB and KNEA, reminded the committees that an excellent education system capable of delivering a quality work force has a much to do with economic development as tax policy.

KNEA does not have a position on the franchise tax per se, but would like the legislature to review the entire tax structure in Kansas and to modernize it in such a way that the system is fair to both business and citizens, progressive so as not to harm the poorest Kansans, elastic so as to provide a stable source of revenue in both good and bad economic times, and reduces over-reliance on any one particular source.

Repeal of the franchise tax would eliminate $44 million in revenue to the state in the first year alone.

Year after year, the Kansas legislature picks at the Kansas tax system. The result is a mish-mash of ideas that have made our system less progress (low income Kansans pay a much larger share of the personal income in taxes than wealthy Kansans) and have created an over-reliance on local property taxes – the most hated of all taxes. KNEA encourages the Kansas legislature to examine tax policy in a comprehensive manner and strive to make the Kansas tax system fair to both business and citizens, progressive so as not to harm the poorest Kansans, elastic so as to provide a stable source of revenue in both good and bad economic times, and reduces over-reliance on any one particular source.

Teachers of the Year let legislators know what’s what!

The Kansas Teacher of the Year team visited with both the House and Senate Education Committees this week and did a beautiful job telling at least those legislators what they need to think about if they want to maintain and improve on the legacy of excellence in Kansas public schools.

Front and center in their comments where many things for which KNEA has been advocating for years: quality professional development, effective and comprehensive mentoring and induction, small class sizes, stable funding, and getting out of the way of quality teachers working with their students. They also advocated for support services, telling legislators that they consider counselors, librarians, para-professionals, and other support providers to be money spent “in the classroom” and integral to the success of our schools.

Both committees used the time to let these outstanding public school teachers give them a lesson in quality public education.

School finance “lock box” advancing

The one bill that has everybody talking – and voting YES – is the so-called “lock box” for school funding.

It was passed by the full Senate last week in Senate Bill 30. A similar house bill, HB 2047, has been pending in the House Appropriations Committee

That’s why the House Appropriations Committee met early Friday morning

After discussing SB 30, Committee Chair Sharon Schwartz suggested that they work it and get it out to the full House. A motion was made by Rep. Dick Kelsey to pass SB 30 out favorably but some committee members were hesitant to move that quickly. Rep. Jerry Henry asked what would become of HB 2047 (Rep. Tafanelli’s school finance lock box bill) if they were to pass SB 30 today.

Legislative staff immediately briefed the committee on the differences between the two bills.

While SB 30 locks the money away for the 2008-09 school year, HB 2047locks it away for both 2007-08 and 2008-09. In addition, HB 2047 locks away another $76 million which would be used to provide $15/year through 2012 to pay off bonds issued from the crumbling classrooms act – a bill passed a number of years ago to pay for a list of classroom repair, renovation, and construction projects at the state universities.

Tafanelli then made a substitute motion to amend SB 30 by putting into it the contents of HB 2047. The motion passed. Then, acting on Kelsey’s motion to pass SB 30 out favorably, the committee voted 20 – 0 to send the amended bill to the full House.

If the amended bill passes on the House floor, there will be a conference committee of Senators and Representatives to work out the final edition of lock box.

Starting in January, 2007, check here for a weekly review of legislative activities.Click here  to see the legislative reviews for the 2006 Legislative session.

Members can get engaged by signing up for Under the Dome, our electronic report from the Capitol issued daily during the session and on occasion throughout the year. 

Consider a KNEA/USA Lobby Day trip to Topeka. Two days will be assigned to each UniServ District during the session. Get in contact with your local president, your UniServ Director or your UniServ President and let them know you want to participate.

Take advantage of our legislative alert system and use it to email your legislator on critical votes during the session. The alerts are embedded in Under the Dome, are posted on our website, and are emailed to anyone who has used the system before.

Talk to your local and UniServ leaders about getting local legislators to visit with the Association or take the time to go to forums back home to keep legislators on their toes. Legislators needs to hear from teachers, administrators, support personnel and parents every time they come to town!

This week’s links:

Check out the conference committee report briefs from the Legislative Research Dept. – everything from school finance to shipping wine!

School Finance in Focus: SB 549 as it was adopted by both chambers!

The KSDE district-by-district analysis of SB 549!

School finance dominates as legislators fall just short of a record-length wrap-up session

It was almost like watching Barry Bonds trying to overtake Babe Ruth.

Back in 2002 the Kansas Legislature set a record by staying in their three-day veto session for 16 action packed days. Here we were in 2006 watching as legislators convened on day 15 and wondering if they would finally out-debate the record.

Sometimes it looked like they would. They were bringing up gambling, human cloning, TABOR and a whole host of highly contentious issues at the last moment leading us to believe the end might never come.

There were a number of times when it looked like school finance plans would continue to fail and even the omnibus appropriations (state budget) bill was in jeopardy.

But the 2002 record still stands! This group adjourned one day short of a tie.

May 1: Budget almost goes down; schools see no action

The House spent the day going into the chamber, taking a recess to caucus, returning and recessing, returning and recessing.

The only real action they took was to pass – just barely – the omnibus budget bill, putting it officially in conference with the Senate. There was some doubt that the bill would pass as it had only 63 votes to advance to a final action vote. Ultimately it received 65 votes after a call of the House under which everyone is forced to vote.

Action had been expected on the new Select Committee school finance bill, House Sub for Senate Sub for SB 584, but the House adjourned for the day without debating the bill.

May 2: House debates, advances really bad school finance plan

The House spent the entire day debating House Sub for Senate Sub for SB 584, the reduced school finance plan that made the House negotiate against itself.

In the end, the House flipped on school finance, rejecting their earlier school finance bill for a much cheaper version loaded with bad policy ideas.

An early amendment to the bill offered by Ward Loyd gutted the Select Committee’s new bad plan and put the House Coalition plan as passed earlier in the session in its place. The Loyd motion passed on a vote of 63-61 as the coalition held tight.

Amendments then followed in quick order:

• Bill Otto tried to gut the Loyd amendment and insert the Senate’s school finance plan. The amendment failed 58-62.

• Clay Aurand offered an amendment on transportation allowing buses to cross district lines under certain conditions. The amendment passed 93-19.

• Peggy Mast offered the teaching abortion amendment under which if abortion was mentioned in a sex education class, teachers would be required to teach about abortion procedures and fetal pain. Schools that failed to do this would lose their state funding. The amendment passed 74-49.

• Frank Miller asked for reconsideration of the Otto amendment. Miller’s request passed 64-59 but the Otto amendment failed again on a vote of 62-62.

• An amendment by Kasha Kelley to require the teaching of character education passed on a voice vote.

• An amendment by Sue Storm to change the curriculum standards review process from a three-year cycle to a seven-year cycle passed on a voice vote.

• Lynne Oharah offered his amendment to require school districts to pay for college remedial classes. The amendment failed on a vote of 54-64.

• Jim Yonally tried to add in the “Abstinence Plus” program that put in statute lapsed sex education standards from the State Department and to require an opt-out provision instead of the State Board’s new opt-in provision. The amendment failed 60-62.

Mike O’Neal then offered a new gut and go amendment. This one would gut out the Coalition plan and put in a slightly altered Senate plan plus all of the bad policy provisions from the Select Committee. He left out his “meritless merit measure” under which teachers could surrender their rights for a little bit of “merit” pay.

The O’Neal gut and go was sitting at a 62-62 split when Representative Mario Goico – who had been out of state attending a funeral – showed up and cast the deciding vote allowing the amendment to pass 63-62.

Dennis McKinney then offered an amendment to restore one of the at-risk provisions from the Loyd amendment. His motion failed on a vote of 62-62.

The bill was then advanced to final action on a vote of 63-62. That vote would come on May 3.

May 3: House reverses itself; kills the bad finance plan then takes up TABOR

The House convened to take a final action vote on the latest version of SB 584 advanced the previous night.

In a quick vote, the bill was killed on a vote of 55-69. This action put the House in an interesting position. The only school finance bill that had passed the House was the Moderate/Democratic Coalition plan – the largest of all school finance bills debated in either chamber this year. However, voting on the floor demonstrated that a large number of House members were not interested in trying to meet the Court ruling and the members of the Conference Committee would likely include Mike O’Neal and Kathe Decker – two representatives not known for their support of increased school funding.

In an interesting twist, Rep. Gary Hayzlett replaced Mike O’Neal on the conference committee. Hayzlett’s positions are not any different than O’Neal’s so while it made no difference ideologically it did change the dynamic.

The conference committee met just long enough to hear an overview of the Senate position – Sen Sub for SB 584. Later in the day a motion was made to reconsider the morning action on House Sub for Senate Sub for 584.

Two things can happen when this motion is made: 1) a new vote on the bill is taken and it gets passed or 2) the body can reject the motion to reconsider, a vote that drives a stake through the bill’s heart so that it can’t be considered again. Usually the motion is made in hopes of achieving the second outcome.

The motion to reconsider by Assistant Minority Leader Jim Ward failed on a voice vote. The bad House finance plan was now officially dead.

The “TABOR-light” bill in HCR 5043 – a constitutional amendment requiring a 2/3 majority vote to  enact any tax increase – was brought to the floor in the afternoon where it was amended up before being referred back to committee, an action that doomed the bill for this session (although, like Lord Voldemort, bad ideas rarely die completely).

The bill had been held in committee where it was apparent it did not have the votes to be sent to the floor. House Speaker Doug Mays, a TABOR supporter, used his position to bring the bill out of committee to give it a floor vote. This action is another “more politics than policy issue” since it simply means that anti-government, anti-tax ideologues can have a recorded vote to put in campaign literature.

The first person to take the bill on was Rep. John Edmonds who offered an amendment to make passage of any bill contingent upon a 2/3 majority vote. Edmonds argued that really great ideas would naturally get a 2/3 majority vote and if an idea had more that 1/3 of the body against it maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. The Edmonds amendment passed on a voice vote.

Next up was Rep. Jerry Williams who tacked on an exemption for tax increases to pay for Medicaid. It passed on a vote of 96-24.

Then Rep. Tom Holland did the same thing for highway improvements. His amendment passed 84-32.

Rep. Sidney Carlin’s motion exempting tax increases for higher education passed on a vote of 82-33.

Rep. Bonnie Sharp tacked on an amendment requiring a 2/3 majority for tax decreases or giveaways. It passed on a voice vote.

At that point Rep. Bill Feuerborn moved to refer the bill back to committee; a motion that passed on a 63-57 vote.

The amended bill went back to the Appropriations Committee where it did not have the votes to be passed out for further floor action.

May 4: Zero, zippo, zilch

Education advocates spent the day under the dome waiting for the House and Senate to either recess or adjourn so the conference committee could meet again and get to work drafting their plan but in a surprise move, the House adjourned with no meeting scheduled.

Hence…nothing to report. No meeting; no progress.

May 5: Why run one plan when you can run two?

The education conference committee met briefly in the afternoon and agreed to a plan proposed by Senate Conferees under which two conference committee reports would be run. Here’s how the plan would work:

1. The House Coalition plan would go in HB 2809 and run again on the Senate floor. The plan had already failed once in the Senate.
2. The Senate plan would go in SB 549 and run again on the House floor. This plan failed in the House.
3. Any plan that passes would be run in the other chamber.

This could have set the money issue. Most people knew that the House plan was unlikely to pass the Senate. If the Senate plan, which is much less costly, would pass the House then the money level would be set at the lower Senate plan level. Under normal circumstances a conference committee negotiating a spending bill with two different levels would seek a compromise position between the two levels.

If both plans were rejected one could argue that the Senate plan was too low for the House while the House plan was too high for the Senate thus forcing the conference committee to seek that compromise position between the two.

In quick floor action both plans were killed

After a short debate HB 2809 went down to defeat in the Senate on a vote of 9 to 31.

SB 549 garnered even less debate in the House where it failed on a vote of 12 to 106.

With both plans dead, there was no need to send either one to the other chamber.

Later that night the Senators came to the conference committee with a compromise plan.

The new plan would split the difference between the two funding levels and came in at about $500 million over three years. The funding areas were the same as those in other plans (BSAPP, at-risk, high at-risk, non-proficient at-risk, correlation weighting and special education) and the policy provisions included were limited. The plan would be put into HB 2809 and run in the Senate on Monday.  

May 8: Split the difference, then vote it down

Another school finance plan fell victim to a Senate intent on rejecting and reducing whatever school finance plan might be presented.

Speaking against the latest compromise were Senators Wagle, Journey, Apple, Brownlee, Donovan and Barnett. Barnett, in a practice that had become all too common, turned his moment into yet another campaign speech attacking the Governor for the Senate’s failure to pass his school finance plan (SB 501 was rejected earlier in the session). We suppose the implication was that the Governor is somehow persuading conservative senators to vote NO on any school finance bill that comes forward. This train wreck in the Senate was entirely of the Senate’s making.

The motion to adopt the conference committee report failed on a vote of 16 – 22 with two senators who would likely have voted YES absent (Roger Reitz and Pete Brungardt).

May 9: We’ve got a plan, no we don’t, yes we do!

At a 9:00 am meeting, the House had a proposal to put before the Senate. A new $466 million plan would address the same issues as other plans but reduce the overall amount of money to the level in the only plan the Senate had passed up to this point.

The new plan –contained in a conference committee report on SB 549 – would run in the House first.

But the conference committee report appeared to be unraveling even before it was finished being drafted!

House Speaker Doug Mays had been seen in a close discussion with House Committee Chair Kathe Decker shortly after the conference committee meeting and since then there had been a hastily called “meeting at the rail” of the conference committee in which the House was rumored to be backpedaling from the agreement.

In addition, Senator John Vratil was rumored to be very dissatisfied with the plan’s effect on Johnson County and would not sign the report.

It became necessary to vote on an “agree to disagree” before the plan could be considered. Things were looking iffy and nerves were frayed.

Midnight: School finance passes with a one vote margin!

The conference committee report ran on the House floor in the evening and, after almost no discussion at all, was adopted on a vote of 66-54. But the plan had lost the support of the Johnson County Moderate Republicans who had been part of the Mod/Dem Coalition last year and through the session this year. Their complaint was that the current plan did far more for rural schools at the expense of their districts. But the plan picked up enough rural folk to offset the loss of Johnson County.

The rift put the plan in jeopardy in the Senate where the seven Johnson County Senators represent about 18% of the votes. Four of those seven (Brownlee, Jordan, O’Connor, and Wilson) had voted against almost every school finance bill while the other three (Allen, Vratil, and Wysong) voted consistently for school finance. The Johnson County issue in this bill put the votes of the three supporters of public schools in jeopardy. Again, the question was whether the bill would pick up enough of the other senators to offset the possible loss of those three.

The bill ran late at night and initially garnered only 19 votes with Senators Emler, McGinn, and Taddiken taking the places of Allen, Vratil, and Wysong in the YES column. Four Senators passed (Donovan, Huelskamp, Ostmeyer, and Pine) and of those only Roger Pine moved to the YES column. Roger Reitz (a funding supporter) and Kay O’Connor (a funding opponent) were both absent.

Majority Leader Derek Schmidt asked  for a “call of the Senate” under which the doors are locked and all Senators are kept in their seats while the missing senators are located and brought in – and while pressure can be put on a few in an attempt to change votes. After about a 20 minute call, Senator Dwayne Umbarger switched from NO to YES and Senate President Steve Morris closed the roll and took the tally. The report was adopted on a vote of 21 to 17.

The Senate then stood at ease waiting for Senator O’Connor to arrive. She entered the chamber shortly after midnight and, by unanimous consent, was allowed to cast her NO vote. The final vote then was 21 to 18.

Voting YES on the school finance plan were:

Jim Barone, Donald Betts, Pete Brungardt, Jay Emler, Marci Francisco, Mark Gilstrap, Greta Goodwin, David Haley, Anthony Hensley, Laura Kelly, Janis Lee, Carolyn McGinn, Steve Morris, Derek Schmidt, Vickie Schmidt, Jean Schodorf, Chris Steineger, Mark Taddiken, Ruth Teichman, Roger Pine, and Dwayne Umbarger.

Voting NO were:

Barbara Allen, Pat Apple, Jim Barnett, Karin Brownlee, Terry Bruce, Les Donovan, Tim Huelskamp, Nick Jordan, Phil Journey, Kay O’Connor, Ralph Ostmeyer, Peggy Palmer, Mike Peterson, Dennis Pyle, John Vratil, Susan Wagle, Dennis Wilson, and David Wysong.

The plan now goes to the Governor. 

May 10: The last day but evil was still afoot!

Under the dome in the morning it was all rumors. And some of those rumors were pretty big deals!

There was a rumor about expanded gaming. People were talking about a last minute attempt to run a gaming bill through the House and seeing if it couldn’t pass as part of a comprehensive effort to fund both school finance and tax cuts for businesses. An attempt was indeed made but it was half-hearted at best and proponents managed to get only 44 votes to call up a bill in which to put a gaming proposal.

The next rumor was TABOR; would there be another attempt to pass a constitutional amendment hamstringing the Legislature’s ability to fund state services? There was a resolution sitting on the calendar and an attempt to pull that resolution up for use as a TABOR vehicle was killed when it received only 14 votes. That disposed of the last vehicle on which to attach a TABOR constitutional amendment.

And finally, there was a rumor that the Senate was ready to reconsider their action of the previous night on the school finance bill. Majority Leader Derek Schmidt rose and acknowledged the rumors; suggesting perhaps he would make the motion himself. Schmidt said that the bill had been sent back to the House and the House was now technically “in possession” of the bill. His reading of the rules was that once a chamber no longer had possession of the bill, it could not be reconsidered in that chamber. Senate President Steve Morris agreed and the attempt to reconsider was set aside. The bill stood.

The rest of the day was spent wrapping up the last few conference committee reports including one on campaign finance reform, one on business machinery and equipment tax cuts, and a trailer bill cleaning up some problems with the recently passed concealed carry of handguns bill. And of course, the ever contentious omnibus appropriations bill.

This year the appropriation for the K-12 education bill was put in the school finance bill itself so it would not be impacted by negotiations on the omnibus appropriations bill. That meant, even if the appropriations bill was voted down, the school finance plan would be funded. But in the end everything passed and the second chamber adjourned by 8:15 pm.

Our initial thoughts on the school finance bill

KNEA is taking a realistic view of this plan. We are unenthusiastic about a plan that is the result of continuing reductions from the original House-passed plan. We also realize that had the plan gone back to the conference committee things would likely get worse. The conference committee had already abandoned all day kindergarten and any increase in special education. The plan is significantly less than the level of funding called for in the LPA cost study but it has the most money in the first year of any of the plans considered. Given that the first year is the only guaranteed year (legislators love to defend generous out-year plans by saying, “It’s only a suggestion; we can’t tie the hands of future legislatures!”) the front loading of this plan is important for district planning purposes. 

Will the plan get the Court’s blessing? That is anyone’s guess. Again, it falls far short of the LPA study and has been crafted by finding an amount that could get the requisite number of votes and then deciding how to spend it. The Court has been pretty clear in that they expect the legislature to find out what was needed and then appropriate it. Plaintiff’s attorneys have told the press that they do not believe this plan passes muster and will challenge it before the Court. We’ll just have to wait and see if the Court will let this go on an interim basis or send the legislature back to work.
 

Some legislators won’t be returning by choice!

Conservatives:

• Becky Hutchins, R-Holton, retires after 6 terms.
• Joann Freeborn, R-Concordia, retires after 7 terms.
• Kathe Decker , R-Clay Center, leaves after 4 terms to join the GOP gubernatorial ticket of Ken Canfield, Overland Park, as his lieutenant governor running mate.
• John Edmonds, R-Great Bend, retires after 5 terms.
• House Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka, retires after 7 terms. Mays had at one time announced that he was seeking the Republican nomination for governor but has since abandoned the race.
• Eric Carter, R-Overland Park, leaves after 2 terms to seek the Republican nomination for Kansas Insurance Commissioner.
• Scott Schwab, R-Olathe, leaves after 2 terms to seek the Republican nomination for 3rd Congressional District.      

Moderates:

• Ray Cox, R-Bonner Springs, retires after 7 terms.
• David Huff, R-Lenexa, retires after 5 terms.

Democrats:

• Bonnie Sharp , D-Kansas City, leaving after 5 terms to run as a Democrat for Kansas Insurance Commissioner.
• Nancy Kirk, D-Topeka, retires after 6 terms. 

Retiring Representative John Edmonds of Great Bend has been diagnosed with cancer and will be undergoing treatment. We send him our best wishes for a full recovery. As chairman of the Tax Committee and most recently the Federal and State Affairs Committee we have had the opportunity to work with John. While we have not always agreed (though sometimes we did) Representative Edmonds is known by us as one of the most fair chairman out there. Representative Edmonds has always treated everyone with the utmost respect. His respect and appreciation for the democratic process is his legacy. For that, we give him our thanks.

This week’s links:

What’s passed so far? See the preliminary summary of legislation from the Legislative Research Dept.

School Finance in Focus: HB 2986 as it passed the House – the only finance package to pass!

Want to Read Conference Committee Briefs? Click here!

Kansas Legislature spends 56 days in Topeka; fails to pass school finance bill

Last July the Kansas Legislature met the Supreme Court ruling on school finance on an interim basis. At that time, the Court told the Legislature to go ahead with their new school funding study to be conducted by the Legislative Post Audit Division and then to respond appropriately.

That study was done in time for the start of the 2006 Legislative Session in January. On March 31 – 82 calendar days and 56 legislative meeting days later – both chambers adjourned with only the House having passed a bill on funding.

It was Thursday, March 23, when House moderate Republicans and Democrats united to hijack the Select Committee’s one-year, low funding, loaded-with-bad-policy education bill. They gutted the bill and put in their own three-year plan for school funding. It passed the House on Friday, March 24, with 64 votes. The bill was then sent to the Senate for their consideration.

The Senate had its own education funding bill sitting on their calendar (SB 584) and another by Sen. Jim Barnett (R-Emporia) sitting in committee (SB 501). In an unusual move by Senate leadership, it was decided to debate all three bills – Sub HB 2986, SB 584, and SB 501 – and give them each a vote. The date set was Thursday, March 30.

First up is Sub HB 2986…

A fundamental issue in the House plan was a provision under which the LOB would increase to 33% in the second year and in 2010, if a new study by the Legislative Post Audit found that the state was meeting its constitutional obligation to education, the cap on the LOB would be lifted.

A motion by Sen. Pat Apple (R-Lousiburg) stripped out the LOB provisions making the bill a sure failure back in the House. Senator Anthony Hensley (D-Topeka) attempted to put the balance back in the bill by offering an amendment to reinstate the LOB increase while putting in equalization on the amounts above the 33% should the cap be lifted. The Hensley amendment, if adopted, would have likely been approved by the House coalition. Unfortunately, the amendment failed on a vote of 12-25.

Senators voting to save the bill by voting YES on the Hensley amendment were Republicans Barbara Allen, Pete Brungardt, Carolyn McGinn, Steve Morris, Roger Reitz, Vickie Schmidt, John Vratil, and David Wysong and Democrats Marci Francisco, Greta Goodwin, Anthony Hensley, and Laura Kelly. Republican Dwayne Umbarger and Democrat Donald Betts initially voted YES but changed to NO when it was clear that the amendment would fail.

The bill as amended was then put to a vote and failed on a vote of 14-25.

Next up is SB 584…

SB 584 also had provisions regarding the LOB – in this case a much-misunderstood LOB “recapture” proposed by Senator John Vratil (R-Leawood). Again the Senate voted to strip out the LOB provisions before continuing to debate and amend the bill by adding the non-proficient at-risk funding, returning vocational weighting changes back to current law, and expanding the high at-risk funding. The bill was then advanced to final action. But unlike with Sub. HB 2986, the final action vote was put off until after the debate on the third school finance bill – SB 501, the Barnett plan.

Finally, it’s SB 501…

Senator Barnett tried to pick up votes by amending his own plan, adding a high density at-risk for six districts (just like in SB 584) and doing so by taking money out of proposed BSAPP increases and special education increases. Sen. Karin Brownlee (R-Olathe) amended in the swimming bill that would change KSHSAA rules about swimming both for the school and a club team during the season.

Senator Anthony Hensley (D-Topeka) offered the House plan (Sub. HB 2986) in a gut and go motion, reminding the Senate that there had not been an up or down vote on that plan. The Hensley motion failed on a vote of 14-20 with six Senators passing.

Voting YES on the Hensley amendment were Republicans Barbara Allen, Pete Brungardt, Steve Morris, Roger Reitz, Vickie Schmidt, Dwayne Umbarger, John Vratil, and David Wysong and Democrats Donald Betts, Marci Francisco, Greta Goodwin, David Haley, and Laura Kelly. Taking a pass were Republicans Jay Emler, Carolyn McGinn, and Ruth Teichman and Democrats Jim Barone, Mark Gilstrap, and Chris Steineger.

When both bills were brought up for a final action vote, they both were defeated. SB 584 failed on a vote of 16-24; SB 501 failed on a vote of 20-20.

The Senate adjourned for the night without passing a school finance bill.

Friday…a day of reconsideration and tense waiting

On Friday morning, the Senate reconsidered their action on SB 584 and sent the bill back to the Education Committee. This keeps a vehicle for school funding available for the veto session which starts on April 26.

The rest of the day was spent in anticipation of a possible attempt to reconsider SB 501 as well. That bill had failed on a vote of 20-20 and it was entirely possible that its proponents were working to find one Senator to turn so that, if reconsidered, they could pass the Barnett plan. In the end, the 21^st vote could not be rallied and the Senate adjourned at 7:30 pm with no school funding bill passed.

Waging a gubernatorial campaign and using our schools to do it

What’s really going on is a campaign. The mess in the Senate was less about what is right for our schools than it was about the promotion of a candidate for Governor.

Senator Barnett is running for the Republican nomination for Governor with Senator Susan Wagle (R-Wichita) as his running mate. Early in the session, Barnett introduced his school funding bill - SB 501 – more as a campaign statement than a solution to the school funding crisis.

The bill does not address the issues in the school funding lawsuit and the possibility of it successfully being implemented is based on a series of enormous tax cuts that Barnett believes will bring industry to Kansas.

Barnett claims that, if his tax cuts are passed, so much business will come to Kansas that tax revenues will jump through the additional economic activity. So strongly does he believe this that, in showing how much money would be available, he uses revenue projections that are significantly larger than state economists use. In this way he can claim that his bill is affordable without a tax increase and indeed with massive tax cuts! In this view, you can increase your spending by cutting your income and hoping that money comes in from somewhere else.

Barnett then used over-sized charts ala Ross Perot while delivering the equivalent of a stump speech on the Senate floor. And the press was there to report it all!

To be fair it is not the first time – and won’t be the last – that someone uses the Senate floor to campaign. We do find it interesting however, that Emporia School Board member Jim Barnett who made the motion to get Emporia to join the lawsuit, as a Senator and Gubernatorial candidate advocates for bills that would punish the court for ruling in Emporia’s favor and proposes school legislation that does not meet the Court ruling. Oh well, people change.

Ouch! Lobbyists for schools are “pigs”

“Mr. Speaker: I vote No on Sub. HB 2986. Growing up on a farm my daddy used to say ‘You can’t fatten a pig by weighing it.’ Just like you can’t fatten/satisfy the K thru 12 lobbyists (i.e. pig) by sticking it to the Kansas taxpayers. These Kansas taxpayers will ‘‘weigh in’’ at the ballot box come November. This is a ‘‘pig in a poke’’ and I vote no on Sub. HB 2986.”

That’s the level of the rhetoric coming from Kansas conservative Republican legislators in the House of Representatives. The above quote from Rep. Becky Hutchins (R-Holton) was spoken from the lectern on the floor of the House of Representatives after the House passed Sub. HB 2986.

Early in the session House Speaker Doug Mays (R-Topeka) told a reporter that school finance plaintiffs’ attorney Alan Rupe could “shove it up his a**” after Rupe suggested the original House finance plan crafted partly by Mays would not satisfy the Court.

Of course, Mays uttered his remarks in a private conversation with the reporter while out in a restaurant; Hutchins used the public setting of a House debate. And then asked that her remarks be printed in the House Journal as part of the record!

Sadly, Hutchins does not realize that “satisfying the lobbyists” is irrelevant. The Legislature must satisfy the Court that they are indeed taking their responsibility to provide for the intellectual, educational and vocational improvement of the state – as required by the Kansas constitution – seriously. So far they haven’t and legislators like Hutchins are part of the problem.

Other bills:

KPERS – good and bad changes pass,

Swimmer bill fails,

Abortion teaching on hold

The House adopted a conference committee report on SB 270 a bill on KPERS that does two good things – it raises the earnings cap to $20,000/year and increases the benefit for those who retired prior to 1972.

The bill also changes the work after retirement provision for KPERS retirees that takes retired teachers who return to work out of the definition of professional employee making them at-will employees if they choose to return to work. In addition it requires the employer to pay the full KPERS actuarial rate (currently about 14%) into the system.

Since these teachers are stripped of due process and contract rights, it means that the employer can pay them less than other teachers and terminate them at-will. As soon as someone cheaper comes along, the retiree will be let go. No rights, no salary or benefit guarantees, at-will employment status – a bad deal for teachers.

There is no change for persons who return to the same employer – they are capped at $20,000/year.

The “swimming bill” allowing high school swimmers to train and compete with a club team while competing for their high school team (HB 2345) was amended by Rep. Tom Holland (D-Baldwin City ) to allow home schooled kids to participate in debate and music competitions with area high schools. After a lengthy debate on the merits of the Kansas State High School Activities Association, the House chose to leave rule-making to KSHSAA. The bill failed on a vote of 41-79.

On a third bill – SB 528 – Rep. Jan Pauls (D-Hutchinson) got an abortion education provision amended in. Under this provision, (previously tried on HB 2986 by Rep. Mary Pilcher-Cook) schools would be required to provide graphic descriptions of abortions in sex education programs. It passed the House on a vote of 77-48. The underlying bill is an abortion data-gathering proposal.

The Senate did not concur in the House changes so the bill now goes to a conference committee.

Bills we’ve reported on and what happened so far

Passing both chambers:

• SB 139, establishing the Kansas Academy of Math and Science (KAMS). The bill creates a residential academy for up to 40 Kansas high school students (5 from each congressional district and 20 “at large”) to complete their last two years of high school on a college campus (to be determined) where they would earn both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree. Their state assessment scores would count for their home school district and the home district would not receive any state aid for the student; state aid would go to KAMS.
• SB 344 , making it a crime to “willfully fail or refuse to comply with any lawful order or direction of any uniformed school crossing guard invested by law with authority to direct, control or regulate traffic.”  Conference Committee Report adopted
• House Sub for SB 270 , a retirement bill increasing the earnings cap for KPERS retirees to $20,000, providing a benefit increase for persons who retired prior to 1972, and requiring employers to pay the actuarial rate (about 14%) to KPERS for persons they hire back after retirement. Unfortunately it also makes these retiree/workers “at will” employees meaning they have no rights whatsoever. If you are not ready to live on your KPERS retirement, don’t take this chance! Conference Committee Report adopted
• HB 2575, allowing for gifted 9^th and 10^th graders to participate in concurrent enrollment classes and earn both high school and college credits. Signed by the Governor.

Now in a regular committee:

• HB 3012, allowing districts to create shared schools by interlocal agreement – proposed for Doniphan County districts that want to operate a joint high school, it would apply state-wide for interested districts.

In the Senate Education Committee

• HB 2634, allowing the Satanta and Sublette school districts to share their property for the purpose of determining assessed valuation per pupil. It was amended in committee to allow USDs 404, 493, 499, and 508 to do the same thing if a bill allowing expanded gaming in Cherokee County should pass. Ruled materially changed by House Speaker – in the Appropriations Committee
• SB 329changes the standards review process from three to seven years but considered to be used as a vehicle for SB 508. Withdrawn from house calendar – put in the Appropriations Committee
• SB 508, the “abstinence plus” bill that would codify the sex education standards that were allowed to lapse by the State Board of Education along with an “opt out” requirement as opposed to the “opt in” provision adopted by the SBOE at their last meeting. (The bill is the last one on the calendar.) In House Federal and State Affairs Committee

Now in Conference Committee:

• SB 485, allowing school boards to issue a ruling on a suspension or expulsion at their next regularly scheduled meeting instead of within five days as is current law.
• HB 2585, requiring redistricting of local school board districts every ten years.

Conference Committee Report pending:

• HB 2578, expanding the special education teacher scholarship plan. This provides support for teachers wishing to become licensed and endorsed in special education. Amended to include provisions of SB 566 – scholarships for AA degree holders to finish BA with special education endorsement and licensure and for other teachers to pursue advanced degrees. CCR passed Senate, pending in House
• SB 305  had started out as a chance for Barclay College students to get financial aid under the state’s comprehensive grant program but was amended in committee to drop the Barclay College piece and insert a program supporting National Guard soldiers seeking a college education. CCR passed Senate, pending in House

Dead:

• HB 2345 which overrules the Kansas State High School Activities Association on the issue of swimming or diving with a school team while participating on a club team. Under KSHSAA rules, a student athlete may not compete or train with a club team during the sport season when the athlete competes for the school. The rule is considered a way of “leveling the field” among schools where such opportunities are not available state-wide. HB 2345 applies only to swimming and diving; the prohibition would still stand for all other high school sports.

HB 2986 as it passed the House

School Finance in Focus: HB 2986 as it passed the House

State Department Review of HB 2986 as it passed the House

House Education Budget Committee hears bill expanding education bureaucracy

The House Education Budget Committee held a hearing on HB 3006, a proposal that would direct the State Board of Education to create and implement a reorganization plan that establishes an “uber-superintendent” for each State Board of Education District. This bureaucrat would be selected by the school boards within the district and would have no apparent duties. School districts would still have their own superintendents but would be prohibited from hiring any assistant, associate, or deputy superintendents. Supervisors and principals would be allowed. How long do you imagine it would take to issue new titles to all assistant, associate, or deputy superintendents?

Bill sponsor Rep. Shari Weber (R-Herington) told the Committee that it was her intent to eliminate all local superintendents by 2010 although the bill was not written that way. This, of course, creates a situation where one remote superintendent serves what could be more than 40 school boards while another has one school board. Without any assistant superintendents it definitely begs the question about how administrivia gets taken care of.

Speaking in opposition to the bill, KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti told the committee, “If a school district has an “assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction” and changes the title to “supervisor of curriculum and instruction,” does it save money? Not unless you eliminate the position entirely. If you hire one less person, who takes over the duties of that person? Not having the body does not make the work go away. The choice is to ignore the work or pass it on to others. Usually teachers.”

Speaking in favor of the bill were Weber and Ken Daniel who spoke for some time on the problems with schools and how they spend too much money without accountability – the same topic he hits on when appearing before the education committees. He repeated his “I don’t care about 4^th graders – I don’t hire 4^th graders” mantra.

Senate Ways and Means Committee hears bill on establishing a tech college commission

Up for discussion in the Senate Ways and Means Committee was SB 588, a bill establishing the “Kansas technical college and vocational education school commission.” This proposal is likely in response to a number of controversial issues swirling about the capitol which have come about due to the passage of SB 7 in 2004. Senate Bill 7 separated the technical colleges from USD Board control, setting them up as independent entities.

The result of this action has created a number of problems for technical colleges, among them the challenge of providing services with no authority to levy taxes. In the wake of all of this have been rumored proposals to merge technical colleges with other higher education institutions or to create one large technical college with satellites. There is even a bill to allow one technical college to revert to a technical school under a USD board.

Most of these discussions have taken place behind closed doors and among boards without any conversation with technical college employees.

In testimony before the Committee, KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti, urged the legislature to include employee representatives on any such commission. Said Desetti,

“There has been a serious lack of communication among all the stakeholder groups and the one group most left in the dark has been the instructional staff. We believe that the establishment of a Kansas technical college and vocational education school commission is a good idea. Our concern is that there is no guarantee that the employees – the instructors – will be represented on this Commission. The legislature can go a long way in dealing with the many challenges facing technical schools and colleges if there is a concerted effort to guarantee that the employees are “at the table.” We would ask this Committee to consider adding a representative of the instructional staff to serve on this Commission.”

Rich Hoffman of the Kaw Area Technical School asked the Committee to add two members to the commission appointed by the technical schools association – specifically a tech college president and a tech school director. KNEA asked the Committee to add a representative of employees.

Three amendments were put on the bill. The first directs the Kansas Board of Regents to appoint a technical college president to serve on the Commission. The second puts the President of the Board of Regents on the Commission as a non-voting, ex-officio member.

KNEA was successful in getting the bill amended to require that, when making appointments to the Commission, “the governor and legislative leaders shall give consideration to persons representing businesses, industry, and instructional staff of such schools and colleges.” While this does not guarantee that an instructional staff representative will be on the Commission, it gives us a better chance when we advocate for such an appointment and provide suggestions to legislators.

The amendment was made by Senator Ruth Teichman (R-Stafford).

A tax bill to support K-12 education is introduced; a tax bill  to support higher education is attacked

Senator David Wysong (R-Mission Hills) introduced a bill in the Senate Ways and Means Committee to increase taxes to pay for the Senate’s three-year education plan (SB 584). Details of the bill were not discussed and it will not be available for review until tomorrow morning so we can’t yet tell you what it would do. Wysong has been a strong supporter of public schools, so we imagine it will be a fair proposal.

But that wasn’t the only tax brought up in the Ways and Means Committee today. They also held a hearing on SB 586, a bill that temporarily increases sales and property taxes to pay for much needed building and facility repair on our university campuses. While the Regents, Kansas State University, and the American Institute of Architects spoke about the need for funding to keep our campuses safe and modern, the usual suspects came out to attack the proposal.

Karl Peterjohn of the Kansas Taxpayers Network and Alan Cobb of Americans for Prosperity worked to convince legislators that the funding was not needed and that it would cripple Kansas. Peterjohn was asked how he would propose to pay for the repairs and, avoiding the question, he told the Committee that there was no evidence that higher education did not have enough money.

Cobb went on about “efficiencies” and told the senators that higher education should “privatize housing and food service.” Universities,” Cobb said, “are not in the business of housing students.” Cobb also suggested that the Universities could take care of the building maintenance by selling their buildings to real estate groups and leasing them back!

Would all this privatization work? Well, let’s just say that private companies are not in the business of providing a service and breaking even – they expect to make a profit.

Marathon sessions yields decent school finance bill in House

The House began debate of HB 2986 at 8:20 p.m. on Thursday. Seven and one half hours later, they moved the bill to final action on a vote of 64-57.

In the intervening hours, the bill went from the one-year plan passed by the House Select Committee that included the “Sweet 17” local property tax for the 17 wealthiest school districts, mandatory at-risk academies that privatized instruction in four districts, and clauses that virtually ensured the bill would not become law, to a positive reasoned approach to a three year plan.

Led by Rep. Ward Loyd (R-Garden City ), a coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats gutted the Select Committee’s plan and replaced it with a modified version of the original bipartisan House leadership plan. The Moderate/Democrat coalition version of HB 2986 includes three increases in BSAPP, corresponding changes in correlation weighting, an expanded high at-risk weighting, a three year phase in of all day kindergarten, an increase in LOB authority, and a review of school funding every three years by the Legislative Post Audit. In 2010, if the LPA determines that the state has met the constitutionally required suitable level of funding, the cap on the LOB would be lifted. If, in the future, funding slipped, then the LOB cap would be reinstated.

Starting with a paper-thin majority believed to be as few as the minimum 63 votes and as high as 65, the Coalition held firm as conservatives  offered amendment after amendment and filibustered in the hopes of wearing the Coalition down.

The amendments offered, after the adoption of Loyd's “gut and go” were as follows:

• If a Kansas high school graduate needs remedial classes in college, then the USD that child graduated from must pay the expense. By Lynn Oharah (R-Uniontown) Passed 62-57.
• Lower the transportation weighting mileage from 2.5 miles to 1.5 miles. By Deena Horst (R-Salina) Failed 36-85.
• An LOB mill levy buy down. By Bill Otto (R-LeRoy) Failed on voice vote.
• Prohibiting KNEA from collecting PAC contributions via payroll deduction. By Peggy Mast (R-Emporia) Ruled non-germane; a motion to overturn the decision of the Rules Chair failed. The amendment failed.
• An additional $50 on BSAPP. By John Faber (R-Brewster) Failed 49-73.
• Institute Building Based Budgeting. By Mary Pilcher-Cook (R-Shawnee) Failed on a voice vote.
• Schools are required to send a monthly report to every parent indicating what the district spent educating their child that month. Parents must sign and return the form. By Shari Weber (R-Herington) Weber filibustered here by reading funding increases for every school district from the special session bill. The amendment failed 46-74.
• Making it a crime for a school administrator to sign off on a financial report if there is an error in the report. By Jason Watkins (R-Wichita) Failed 61-62.
• Repealing in-state tuition for the children of undocumented alien residents. By Becky Hutchins (R-Holton) Failed 57-66.
• Vouchers for special education students (a Kay O’Connor bill from 2005). By Lance Kinzer (R-Olathe) Failed 53-68.
• LPA to do a school consolidation study. By Steve Huebert (R-Valley Center ) Failed 17-98.
• An early graduation incentive program; a $1000 payment to a student who graduates from high school early and goes to a vocational school or college. Includes a scholarship to a vocational school or college. By Anthony Brown (R-Eudora) Carried 62-54.
• Go back to the House Select plan but include increases by the CPI for two years beyond the first. By Mike O’Neal (R-Hutchinson) Failed 61-62.
• Math and science teachers who will surrender their due process and contract rights get “merit pay.” By Mike O’Neal (R-Hutchinson) Failed 59-62.
• If a school receives funding from a local sales tax, the receipts shall be deducted from state aid. By Kathe Decker (R-Clay Center ) Failed 48-74.
• Adopt the LPA study as it is and lift the cap on the LOB. By Jason Watkins (R-Wichita) Failed 0-112.
• Secondary school sex education classes must include detailed and graphic information on fetal development and abortions. By Mary Pilcher-Cook (R-Shawnee) Ruled non germane. Amendment failed.
• LOB equalized to 25%; lift the cap with any LOB beyond the 25% not equalized. By Ted Powers (R-Mulvane) Failed on voice vote.
• The same abortion and sex ed amendment but include a provision that any school that violates the requirement shall not be eligible for state aid. By Mary Pilcher-Cook (R-Shawnee) Failed 60-61.
• Enactment date; the bill only becomes law if the lawsuit is dismissed by the Court. By Mike O’Neal (R-Hutchinson) Passed 62-61.
• Strike the enactment clause (kills the bill entirely). By Jason Watkins (R-Wichita) Failed 56-67.
• Enactment date; change from when the lawsuit is dismissed to on publication. By Jim Ward (D-Wichita) Carried 65-57.

After voting to advance the bill to final action, the House adjourned until 10:00 this morning. That explains the stream of headlights around the Capitol at 4:00 a.m.

The final action vote took place this morning. The bill was passed on a vote of 64-61 but not without long explanations by conservatives on how this will bankrupt the state.

So now what happens? Is it done?

Not necessarily. There is a chance that with such a thin margin of victory (it takes 63 votes to pass a bill), there could be an attempt to reconsider the vote. If that is the case, we need a majority to vote NO on a motion to reconsider. It there is such a motion and it fails, then there is no other way to kill the bill in the House – any other actions would take place over in the Senate or in a Conference Committee. A motion to reconsider could be made next Wednesday when the House reconvenes.

Governor Sebelius stands up for working Kansans!

Vetoes SB 461, the disposable worker bill!

The Governor heard your voice and stood firm for you – the working people of Kansas. Despite the passage of SB 461 in the Senate and then the House, she used her pen to veto this terrible attack on working men and women.

SB 461 would have stripped Kansas workers of workers compensation benefits when injured on the job and used age or injuries suffered in the war in Iraq as the excuse. “Why,” said proponent Bill Curtis of the Kansas Association of School Boards, “should we have to pay for the aging process?”

SB 461 was opposed by KNEA, the AARP of Kansas, the Kansas State Nurses Association, and employee groups throughout the state.

Proponents were angry but, realizing the chances of overriding the veto were slim, chose not to attempt the override. Working Kansans are safe for another year!

Both chambers override veto of concealed carry allowing guns to be carried at non-athletic school activities

Governor Sebelius vetoed Senate Bill 418, the concealed carry of handguns bill, which had passed the House 90-33 and the Senate 30-10.

Every time the bill has passed before the Governor vetoed it – Governor Graves in 1997 and Governor Sebelius in 2004 – and the Governor stuck by her guns (pun intended) and vetoed it again.

While the House did make two changes requested by KNEA when they prohibited guns in churches, temples and child care facilities, they still refused to prohibit guns at school activities held off campus. The bill only prohibits guns at school athletic activities held off campus. Field trips and non-athletic activities will have no prohibition.

The Senate got the first chance to override and the vote was the same as before, 30-10. Acting the next day, the House also voted to override. Concealed carry now becomes Kansas law.

Bills that passed the House this week include:

• SB 139, establishing the Kansas Academy of Math and Science (KAMS). The bill creates a residential academy for up to 40 Kansas high school students (5 from each congressional district and 20 “at large”) to complete their last two years of high school on a college campus (to be determined) where they would earn both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree. Their state assessment scores would count for their home school district and the home district would not receive any state aid for the student; state aid would go to KAMS.
• SB 344, making it a crime to “willfully fail or refuse to comply with any lawful order or direction of any uniformed school crossing guard invested by law with authority to direct, control or regulate traffic.”
• SB 485, allowing school boards to issue a ruling on a suspension or expulsion at their next regularly scheduled meeting instead of within five days as is current law.
• SB 305had started out as a chance for Barclay College students to get financial aid under the state’s comprehensive grant program but was amended in committee to drop the Barclay College piece and insert a program supporting National Guard soldiers seeking a college education. This bill may be another chance for Representative Hutchins to try to amend in her immigrant tuition repeal. We’ll be watching.
• House Sub for SB 270, a retirement bill increasing the earnings cap for KPERS retirees to $20,000, providing a benefit increase for persons who retired prior to 1972, and requiring employers to pay the actuarial rate (about 14%) to KPERS for persons they hire back after retirement. Unfortunately it also makes these retiree/workers “at will” employees meaning they have no rights whatsoever. If you are not ready to live on your KPERS retirement, don’t take this chance!
• HB 3012, allowing districts to create shared schools by interlocal agreement – proposed for Doniphan County districts that want to operate a joint high school, it would apply state-wide for interested districts.

Passing the Senate were:

• HB 2578, expanding the special education teacher scholarship plan. This provides support for teachers wishing to become licensed and endorsed in special education.
• HB 2634, allowing the Satanta and Sublette school districts to share their property for the purpose of determining assessed valuation per pupil. It was amended in committee to allow USDs 404, 493, 499, and 508 to do the same thing if a bill allowing expanded gaming in Cherokee County should pass.
• HB 2575, allowing for gifted 9^th and 10^th graders to participate in concurrent enrollment classes and earn both high school and college credits.
• HB 2585, requiring redistricting of local school board districts every ten years.

Still under consideration on the calendar today as we go to press:

• SB 329changes the standards review process from three to seven years but is likely to be used as a vehicle for SB 508, the “abstinence plus” bill that would codify the sex education standards that were allowed to lapse by the State Board of Education along with an “opt out” requirement as opposed to the “opt in” provision adopted by the SBOE at their last meeting. (The bill is the last one on the calendar.)

 Dropped “below the line” and now dead:

• HB 2345 which overrules the Kansas State High School Activities Association on the issue of swimming or diving with a school team while participating on a club team. Under KSHSAA rules, a student athlete may not compete or train with a club team during the sport season when the athlete competes for the school. The rule is considered a way of “leveling the field” among schools where such opportunities are not available state-wide. HB 2345 applies only to swimming and diving; the prohibition would still stand for all other high school sports.

SB 461 is on the Governor’s desk! Click here to send her a message asking her to veto this workers comp “reform!”

Keep up with happenings in Congress; click here to visit NEA’s Legislative Action Center

Iris Van Meter says she won’t run for re-election to the State Board of Ed; click here to find out how you can help moderate the State Board

Will they never learn?

The answer to this age-old question is “apparently not.” Yes, history is bound to repeat itself and in this case it is the history of tax cuts, tax cuts, and more tax cuts.

Back towards the end of Graves’ administration, a booming economy had left the state of Kansas flush with funds. In response, legislators went on a tax cut binge. The logic was the state was collecting in taxes more than it needed to fund services, so why not give it back. Indeed that does sound logical except when you consider that economies don’t grow forever – they look more like roller coasters than up escalators.

In 2001 the economy took a major hit with the combination of the 9/11 terror attacks and a downturn in the markets. It was bad and the state paid the price through flat funding for education and cuts in other services. Promises to the state highway plan and post secondary education were shelved and legislators assured the public that when good economic times returned, the state would get back on track for education, social services, and highways.

Flash forward to 2006. The economy is on the rebound. Tax revenues are up. Highway planners are thinking about the new chance to get projects back on line; social service agencies are looking at the chance to reduce waiting lists; post-secondary institutions are thinking about the promises of the higher education reorganization act; and schools see a chance to deal appropriately with the school finance lawsuit.

Faced with the chance to begin funding state services appropriately, what actions do our legislators take? Use the new revenues to restore cuts? Meet the Supreme Court ruling on school finance? Sorry – it’s déjà vu all over again!

The House has passed a major tax cut for business in HB 2619 – eliminating sales tax on new business machinery and equipment purchases and cutting state revenues by an estimated $370 million. And now the House has passed a phase out of the franchise tax - $1.25 for each $1,000 in capital of a company in Kansas – which will cost the state an additional $50 million.

Fortunately so far the Senate has been more thoughtful in their deliberations and is hesitant to slash too much from the state’s coffers. But it makes one wonder – why would the House cut over $420 million in revenue when faced with a cost study that shows they need to increase school funding by at least $500 million?

It just goes to prove what teachers already know – some students need re-teaching and remediation. Perhaps we need a No Legislator Left Behind Act under which 100% of them would be required to be proficient in economics.

Senate Ed Committee half-heartedly passes a school finance bill.

The Senate Education Committee met for three and one half hours Monday to hammer out a school finance bill for the full Senate to consider. Committee Chair Jean Schodorf (R-Wichita) had announced her intention of getting a bill out come what may!

The first issue of debate was whether or not to have a three year plan. Some members of the Committee are alarmed over predictions that the state will not have the money to complete the plan in year three. After being assured that they could make adjustments in the future if there were fiscal issues, the Committee agreed to pass out a three year plan.

Using SB 584 as the starting point, the following decisions were made:

• Base State Aid Per Pupil – stick with the proposal in SB 584 or $50 in 2006, $50 in 2007, and $70 in 2008.
• At-risk funding – The Committee debated the merits of using free lunch for distribution of funding with Senator John Vratil (R-Leawood) arguing to change the method to “below proficient on either the math or reading state assessment.” Senator Barbara Allen (R-Overland Park ) moved to distribute aid on the basis of free lunch or below proficient but to keep the overall funding level the same. More kids would qualify but each would generate fewer dollars and those dollars would be distributed differently around the state. The Allen motion failed on a vote of 5-6. Senators then agreed to keep at-risk on free lunch and change the weighting as per SB 584 (.268 in 2006, .318 in 2007, .368 in 2008).
• Flexibility – This part of the House plan (HB 2986) was moved into the Senate plan and allows school districts flexibility in spending at-risk, bilingual, and vocational dollars with some added reporting requirements.
• High at-risk – the weighting originally deemed “urban poverty” in the LPA study was altered in the Senate plan to be given to the five districts with the highest poverty (Kansas City, Wichita, Topeka, Liberal and Dodge City). A motion to return to the LPA study proposal (Kansas City, Wichita, Topeka, and Turner) failed. The Committee settled on the original language in SB 584.
• Special Education – The Committee adopted the SB 584 provisions (92% in 2006, 95% in 2007, 98% in 2008).
• LOB recapture (mandatory student performance improvement fund) – This was adopted along with a subsequent amendment to do away with local property tax relief as an exchange. With the tax relief, the state would not get credit for the money.
• LOB increases – A provision in SB 584 to allow districts to increase their LOB by 2.5% in 2006, 5% in 2007, and 6% in 2008 without equalization and to be spent only on items not required by the state, was adopted on a vote of 4-3.
• All Day Kindergarten – A motion to phase in funding for all day kindergarten was defeated but a statement saying districts could spend at-risk funds on all day kindergarten was adopted.

The bill was then passed out of Committee on a vote of 6-5 – hardly a ringing endorsement. The lack of enthusiasm in Committee signals a bill in trouble when it hits the floor. We’ll see what kind of talking goes on between now and the vote.
 

House Select finishes work on HB 2986 – school finance

HB 2986, the House Select Committee’s school finance bill, took three days to amend up but it was finally passed out of committee today (Friday).

Day one (Wednesday) focused on a series of amendments brought by Rep. Mike O’Neal (R-Hutchinson) many of which are, in one way or another, intended to reduce the State’s obligation to the K-12 school system. Most of these amendments were not voted on today and will be “reworked” for the final bill.

Among his proposals:

• The State Board shall design an administrative reorganization plan for school districts. (This one was adopted.)
• The Legislature shall not be required to pay any costs attributable to meeting federal law or rules and regulations or standards adopted by the state board in conformance with such federal law. (So who will pay those costs?)
• The Supreme Court shall not have original jurisdiction in any suit challenging the constitutionality of new legislative enactments. (If the legislature passes a finance bill with $1 in new money on BSAPP, it is deemed constitutional and challenges must start in the lower courts rather than the Supreme Court examining the bill to see if it meets the current ruling in school finance.)
• The State Board shall not reimburse school districts for costs attributed to the transportation of students who are not required by law to be provided transportation. (O’Neal withdrew this one when he realized that he had made a motion to strip the Hutchinson Schools of almost all transportation aid.)

On day two (Thursday) it was Rep. Ray Merrick (R-Stilwell) who dominated. He focused his amendments on benefits for Johnson County and got two of them to pass.

Merrick ’s amendments would:

• Re-establish the so-called “sweet 17” provision (the one the Court has stayed) that allows the 17 wealthiest school districts to raise additional local funds through a local property tax increase. Merrick twisted the idea a bit by equalizing it. To the tune of about $2.5 million, a few of the property wealthy districts will qualify for state aid.
• Change the distribution of at-risk weighting from free lunch to students below proficient on either the math or reading state assessment. His amendment would extrapolate mathematically the percentage of kids who are not taking assessments but might be below proficient. See day three!

In a related amendment to the sweet 17, Rep. Mike O’Neal (R-Hutchinson) proposed that the State Board of Education make recommendations to the Governor for adjustments in funding per pupil to account for “differences in the cost off living among the school districts in the state.” This amendment also passed.

An amendment was made to the high density at-risk proposal that would keep the current HB 2986 portion (35.1% free lunch and 212.1 students per mile) and add districts with greater than 50% free lunch students. This would give the high at-risk weighting to Kansas City, Topeka, Wichita, Leavenworth, Hutchinson, Dodge City, Liberal, Elk Valley, Galena, and Coffeyville.

Another at-risk proposal that passed deals with “at-risk academies.” Under this proposal, either Liberal or Dodge City will use some of the high at-risk weighting to create three “at-risk academies” – one elementary, one middle school, and one high school – of no more than 100 pupils to provide assistance in bringing these students up to proficiency.

An amendment by Rep. Willa DeCastro (R-Wichita) would establish vocational education start up grants to pay the costs of starting new vocational programs. Such grant applications would be reviewed by the State Board of Education.

The Committee had planned to meet in the evening on Thursday but cancelled those plans opting instead to come back on Friday.

The morning of Day three (Friday) saw a reversal of Merrick ’s new at-risk funding proposal. When the Committee members discovered the impact of what they had done on Thursday, they took a step back and returned at-risk funding to free lunch instead of below proficient on reading or math. It seems that a number of school districts would lose significant amounts of money under the Merrick amendment. Wichita Republican Willa DeCastro who supported the amendment found, for example, that the Wichita schools would lose more than $8.5 million! Topeka Republican Lana Gordon who also supported it discovered that Topeka Schools would lose over $2 million! Good reasons to change minds!

In the afternoon session, Rep. Merrick had another motion. This time he moved $10 million out of the high at-risk weighting and allocated it for students who are below proficient on the math or reading assessments. The amendment passed. They are whittling away the high at-risk funding – $10 million for the Merrick amendment.

In a motion by Mike O’Neal, the Committee stripped out the second and third years of the plan, making HB 2986 a one-year, $175 million plan to address a $400 million minimum cost study!

Lots O’ Bills Week in Senate Ed

Getting hearings this week in the Senate Education Committee were:

• HB 2604, a bill allowing a legislator serving on the Midwest Higher Education Compact Executive Committee to serve an additional two-year term. (Passed)
• HB 2695, a bill allowing students at Barclay College access to financial aid grants under the comprehensive grants program. The Senate had already passed such a bill (SB 305) only to have it gutted and replaced with a financial assistance program for Kansas National Guard members in the House. (Passed)
• HB 2578, a bill amending a scholarship program for teachers wishing to earn special education licenses and endorsements. The bill increases the scholarship and allows for more time to complete the program. It was amended in committee to include those wanting an endorsement to work with gifted students as well as those wanting to work with disabled students. (Passed)
• HB 2634 allows the Satanta and Sublette School Districts to join together for the purposes of calculating assessed valuation per pupil with ½ of the assessed valuation assigned to each school district. This lets the two districts “share their wealth” but does not consolidate them. This was amended to allow the same thing to happen for four school districts in Cherokee County in the event that the Kansas expanded lottery act passes. (Passed)
• HB 2572, a technical higher education statutory amendment on out of state institutions. (Passed)
• HB 2575, a bill allowing gifted 9^th and 10^th graders to participate in concurrent enrollment. (Passed)

The Committee also discussed – once again – HB 2722, a bill providing assistance for low-income Kansans who wish to save for a child’s college education. And once again the bill became bogged down in questions over federal regulations and how to ensure that the money invested, including the state match, gets spent on higher education. Action on the bill was put off until next week.

Senate kills expanded gaming bill touted as revenue source for school finance

After a long and particularly nasty debate, the Senate killed SB 587, the expanded gaming act that was offered as a way to pay for the costs of school finance in years two and three of the proposed funding plan.

Senator Phil Journey, (R-Haysville), threw out a conflict of interest amendment that may have been meant for Senator John Vratil (R-Leawood). Vratil’s law firm represents some gaming interests. Senator Karin Brownlee (R-Olathe), suggested that the bill was drafted during secret meetings of a majority of a quorum of the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee.

Senator (and gubernatorial candidate) Jim Barnett (R-Emporia) attacked Senator Anthony Hensley (D-Topeka) for taking campaign contributions from gaming interests after which it was revealed that the Barnett/Wagle campaign for Governor had taken even more contributions from gaming interests.

The bill had specified that 75% of the state’s take would be earmarked for public schools and, given the lack of interest in a tax increase, proponents suggested that this bill was the only way to avoid reneging on the promises in any three-year school finance package.

In the end, the bill went down 16-20 with four Senators taking a walk and passing.

On a roll call vote to advance the bill, here’s how it went:

Voting YES: Senators Barbara Allen (R-Overland Park),  Jim Barone (D-Frontenac), Pete Brungardt (R-Salina), Jay Emler (R-Lindsborg), Mark Gilstrap (D-Kansas City), David Haley (D-Kansas City), Anthony Hensley (D-Topeka), Laura Kelly (D-Topeka), Janis Lee (D-Kensington), Steve Morris (R-Hugoton), Derek Schmidt (R-Independence), Chris Steineger (D-Kansas City), Ruth Teichman (R-Stafford), Dwayne Umbarger (R-Thayer), John Vratil (R-Leawood), and David Wysong (R-Mission Hills).

Voting NO: Senators Pat Apple (R-Louisburg),  Jim Barnett (R-Emporia), Karin Brownlee (R-Olathe), Terry Bruce (R-Hutchinson), Les Donovan (R-Wichita), Tim Huelskamp (R-Fowler), Nick Jordan (R-Shawnee), Phil Journey (R-Haysville), Carolyn McGinn (R-Sedgwick), Kay O’Connor   (R-Olathe), Ralph Ostmeyer (R-Grinnell), Peggy Palmer (R-Augusta), Mike Petersen (R-Wichita), Roger Pine (R-Lawrence), Dennis Pyle (R-Hiawatha), Roger Reitz (R-Manhattan), Vicki Schmidt (R-Topeka), Mark Taddiken (R-Clifton), Susan Wagle (R-Wichita), and Dennis Wilson (R-Overland Park).

PASSING: Senators Donald Betts (D-Wichita), Marci Francisco (D-Lawrence), Greta Goodwin (D-Winfield), and Jean Schodorf (R-Wichita).

With the failure of SB 587 and little legislative appetite for any other kind of revenue increase (see Will they never learn? – our article about tax cut madness), any multi-year school finance plan will have no guarantees past the first year.

Disposable worker act passed by House – but barely

Senate Bill 461, the evil Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Industry workers compensation reform-through-evisceration bill, passed the House on a vote of 67 to 56 setting up a possible veto fight.

Sixteen Republicans joined 40 Democrats in supporting working Kansans by voting NO. Those  sixteen Republicans were Mike Burgess (Topeka), Willa DeCastro (Wichita), Mario Goico (Wichita), Don Hill (Emporia), Deena Horst (Salina), Becky Hutchins (Holton), Ward Loyd (Garden City), Jim Morrison (Colby), Judy Morrison (Shawnee), Ted Powers (Mulvane), Richard Proehl (Parsons), Clark Shultz (Lindsborg), Tom Sloan (Lawrence), Dale Swenson (Wichita), Lee Tafanelli (Ozawkie), and Jene Vickrey (Louisburg). At one time both Barbara Craft (Junction City) and Tim Owens (Overland Park) had also voted NO but changed to AYE following a “call of the House” which is a maneuver under which absent legislators are forced to vote and pressure to change is put on others.

All Democrats with the exception of Valdenia Winn (Kansas City) and Bob Grant (Pittsburg), who were both absent, voted NO. Winn was attending a conference in Great Britain and Grant was absent due to a death in the family.

Who said it best?

“I have yet to find anyone in the body look me in the eye and admit SB 461 is not a political game. When we use our political wiles to make someone look bad and we use our voters as the pawns to do it; this is diabolic. Representative David Heinemann and company did workers compensation right in 1994. Now we make our vets less than non-coms, our firefighters with a short hose and our workers without a shovel. Just to get a veto! Today, 3/15/06 is the Ides of March. Don’t turn a shovel into a dagger. Et Tu, Brute!! I vote no on SB 461.” Representative Ted Powers (R-Mulvane)

“I vote NO on SB 461. When firefighters and police officers are hurt at work, they will now be faced with proving a preexisting condition should not be counted against them. With this legislation first responders must defend themselves against asymptomatic and undiagnosed ailments claimed by doctors hired by insurance companies. Adding insult to injury, our military veterans returning from Iraq may someday face proving the hardships their bodies endured in war should not be counted as preexisting conditions. Draconian and unfair, SB 461 makes Kansas workers disposable.” Representative Candy Ruff (D-Leavenworth)

The bill now goes to the Governor. Most people believe Governor Sebelius will veto the measure and that a veto override is not possible (it takes a 2/3 majority). Hall talk is that this is what the proponents really want – a chance to paint the Governor as “anti business” because of her veto. Like we have said from the beginning – bad policy, pure politics.

Full House passes concealed carry by wide margin allowing guns to be carried at non-athletic school activities

Senate Bill 418, the concealed carry of handguns bill, passed the full House by a veto-proof margin of 90-33. Every time the bill has passed before the governor vetoed it – Governor Graves in 1997 and Governor Sebelius in 2004 – but this time it looks like the measure will become law.

The House did make two changes requested by KNEA when they prohibited guns in churches, temples and child care facilities but they still refused to prohibit guns at school activities held off campus. The bill only prohibits guns at school athletic activities held off campus. Field trips and non-athletic activities will have no prohibition.

This week’s links:

Click here for KNEA’s Finance in Focus: HB 2986

Click here for KNEA’s Finance in Focus: SB 584

Click here for the Standard & Poor’s school finance website

Education Committees consumed with finance!

House Select Committee deliberates on HB 2986

The House Select Committee on School Finance used its time to discuss HB 2986. Having already held hearings on the bill, this week provided an opportunity for members of the committee to bring amendments.

Representative Valdenia Winn (D-Kansas City ) offered three technical amendments and then proposed that the reallocation of funds in the accountability portion of the bill would not apply until the Legislature fully funded the outcomes based funding suggested by the LPA Study. This amendment failed.

Another Winn amendment directed that the money for the high at-risk students be directed to those students in a district who have the highest deficiency in proficiency. (Her language). This amendment passed.

Committee Chair Kathe Decker (R-Clay Center) proposed inserting the word ‘comparable’ into the vocational courses section when the bill refers to vocational courses that have the same content as courses offered in the technical colleges, vocational schools and post-secondary institutions. The language was accepted.

Decker also offered a clarification amendment under which the words “foundational level” would be changed to “state monies for educational and support services for school districts.” This was needed because there is no such thing as “foundational level funding” in Kansas statute. The change was made to section two of the bill under which the state gets credit for all money going to the State Department of Education in the analysis of school spending.

Decker clarified that the four reports called for in the bill (one each on 4-year-old at-risk, at-risk, bilingual, and vocational education) are not new comprehensive reports. It is the intent of the authors that schools are not to duplicate information already being sent to the state. There might, however, be some new data that would be reported.

The Post Audit Division asked for an amendment to a section that would have them develop standards for accounting systems. Since this is not a function of the Division, the bill will be altered to reflect the Division as advisory only.

The bulk of the Committee discussion on Thursday centered on a motion by Rep. Ray Merrick (R-Stilwell) which would dramatically change the at-risk provisions. Merrick ’s amendment would do three things:

1. eliminate the high density at-risk weighting entirely,
2. distribute at-risk funds on the basis of students below grade level in reading or math based on standardized tests, eliminating free lunch as a funding mechanism, and
3. drop the increases in at-risk in the two out years.

The Merrick amendment created quite a bit of spirited dialogue and brought up many interesting questions. What, for example, is the definition of “below grade level?” What about kids who are not in grades where assessments are given – are none of them at-risk?

Ultimately the amendment was tabled until they could get more information.

What is KNEA’s position on at-risk funding?

KNEA supports a “free lunch plus” approach under which free lunch students would generate at-risk funding as would non-free lunch students who are below proficient in reading or math on the state assessments. This approach recognizes the strong correlation between poverty and being at-risk as well as the fact that poverty is not the only indicator. Free lunch plus recognizes that not all poor children are at-risk and not all at-risk children are poor. 

KNEA supports efforts to bring additional at-risk funds to districts with exceptional problems. We have asked that the Legislature consider high at-risk funding in a manner that recognizes exceptionally high rates of poverty as well as population density. We have supported a melding of HB 2986 and SB 584 on this issue.

KNEA opposes the use of proficiency on state assessments as the only funding mechanism because urban poverty creates stresses under which even students performing well academically are in danger of dropping  out of school. It also does not recognize middle class students who are doing well academically but may be at-risk due to other factors such as teen pregnancy.

Senate Education Committee hears testimony on SB 584

The Senate Education Committee heard from Senate President Steve Morris (R-Hugoton) who explained how the bipartisan group met and decided upon the Senate school finance bill. He emphasized that these were suggestions and will need some work. The funding is within budget limits for the first two years with the third year in need of some revenue enhancements.

Addressing the Committee on SB 584 were Mark Tallman of KASB, Bill Reardon representing the Kansas City Schools, KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti, Kathy Cook of Kansas Families United for Public Education and Stuart Little representing the Shawnee Mission School District.

Ken Daniel, a businessman who appeared before the House Education Committee to bad mouth the LPA study, came to the Senate this time. After criticizing the auditors and Duncombe and Yinger, the Syracuse University researchers who were hired to conduct the outcomes study (Daniel referred to them as Dumkopf and Ying Yang) he took issue with at-risk funding and early childhood programs. Claiming that all day kindergarten and head start make no difference in learning, Daniel said the only thing of importance is assessment in high school and the ACT. In dismissing early childhood efforts Daniel said, “I don’t hire four-year olds.”

Senator Jim Barnett (R-Emporia) appeared before the Committee to talk about his school finance plan (SB 501) which puts $50 million into schools next year, $75 million in the second year, and $100 million in both the third and fourth years. It is based on the chance that a series of tax cuts will generate increased economic development and allow for a 5.5% growth in state revenue. Under questioning Barnett admitted that state fiscal analysts generally use 4.5% economic growth in making revenue predictions.

A conservative uprising?

As we reported last week, Representative Clay Aurand (R-Courtland) came before the House Select Committee and tossed out his idea for a one year plan based on HB 2986 but eliminating the high at-risk weighting and making major changes to the LOB including a 12% mandatory LOB and a change in state support.

This appearance seems to be signaling an uprising among conservative Republicans – who traditionally argue against increased school funding and vote against increases. This is accompanied by much gnashing of teeth and lamentations over the “activist judges” who dare to suggest that the Legislature is not a benevolent master. And this brings us to the education side show known as “constitutional amendments to reign in an out-of-control judiciary.”

Constitutional amendments rolling

The first of what may be many attempts to punish the Supreme Court for doing its job has been run through the Senate – and failed.

SCR 1606 would have altered the manner in which Supreme Court justices are named. Under the constitution now, a nominating panel submits three qualified names to the Governor who makes an appointment to fill a vacancy. It is a relatively simple and smooth process that would be turned into a partisan circus under SCR 1606. This constitutional amendment would require Senate confirmation of the Governor’s selection and allows for an endless list of nominees to be sent forth. If the Senate turned down the first three, the nominating committee would have to come up with three more and the process would start over.

SCR 1606 originally had 28 sponsors – one more than the 27 needed to pass a constitutional amendment – but upon reflection, six of those voted NO and the amendment went down to defeat.

Senate President Steve Morris (R-Hugoton) said it best in his explanation of why he voted NO:

“Our Constitution wisely assigns both joint and separate roles to each branch of the Government. The power of the Executive, Judicial and Legislative branches of government comes directly from the mutual respect with which each must regard the other. Voting to make this change could dramatically alter the process and the delicate balance of power in this state… The new process could possibly take days, and it could easily degenerate into the kind of partisan fight we see in the United States Senate. This will not promote the selection of the best and brightest legal minds to our higher courts. We want justices who possess not only the necessary legal knowledge and experience; we want those individuals who have the courage and objectivity to discern and adhere to the rule of law. I do not believe this amendment sets wise public policy. I do not believe this amendment is in the State’s best interest.”

Up for debate in a House Committee this week is HCR 5032, a constitutional amendment prohibiting the Court from putting money in a remedy. Say the proponents, "How dare the Court say we have to spend more on schools!"

This same amendment was defeated in 2005.

House debates, eviscerates bill repealing immigrant tuition

In the debate on HB 2615, the bill repealing in-state tuition for immigrant students, Democrats and moderate Republicans managed to stop the repeal through a procedure known as a “gut and go.”

Under “gut and go” (once called “eviscerate and proceed” by former Representative Ralph Tanner) a motion is made to strip out all the language from a bill and replace it with something else. In this case Representative Tom Holland (D-Baldwin City ), who replaced Ralph Tanner in the House, moved to gut the bill and replace it with a proposal to increase fines for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Holland suggested that the root issue was why people come to Kansas illegally and not whether or not their children can attend our colleges.

Holland ’s motion was divided at the request of Becky Hutchins (R-Holton), the author of HB 2615. The House then had to take two votes – one to gut the bill and a second to put in the new language. After a spirited debate during which Rep. Mike Kiegerl (R-Olathe) referred to the children of undocumented workers as “people who don’t belong here,” the motion to gut the bill passed.  Others who spoke eloquently in defense of these children who wish to pursue higher education were Mario Goico (R-Wichita) who shared his difficult pursuit of higher education as a refugee from Cuba and Ward Loyd (R-Garden City ) who quoted the U.S. Constitution and told the body that “there is no pursuit of happiness without an education.”  The motion to gut the bill passed 63-58.

Speakers on the floor who defended immigrant children were Goico, Loyd, Josh Svaty (D-Elsworth), Delia Garcia (D-Wichita), and Don Hill (R-Emporia).

Speakers who urged the body to repeal immigrant tuition were Kiegerl, Hutchins, Arlen Siegfreid (R-Olathe), Judy Morrison (R-Shawnee), and Jason Watkins (R-Wichita).

Before the House could vote on putting Holland ’s language into the now empty bill, Hutchins moved to refer the bill back to the House Federal and State Committee. After a new round of debate, the motion to refer passed on a vote of 62-59.

This means that the bill John Edmonds (R-Great Bend), chair of the Federal and State Affairs Committee, tried to stop from ever coming out is back in his Committee! Only now it is just a sheet of paper with a number and a title. Let’s hope it just stays there!

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Standard and Poor’s efficiency study validates KNEA positions!

The Senate Education Committee returned to a study that we haven’t heard much from lately – the Standard and Poor’s efficiency audit. The S&P study was somewhat overwhelmed by the release of the Legislative Post Audit cost study that has consumed most of the air under the dome.

The auditors from S&P had been scheduled to meet with the Senate Education Committee early in the session but had to cancel due to illness.

Michael Stewart and Jason Kingston of Standard and Poor’s presented the findings of Phase III of the study. This is the evaluation of activities of highly resource-effective districts (HREDs). What the study really delivers is a research high-five for the recommendations of Kansas NEA.

The findings include the following:

HREDs invest more in instructional and student support than low resource-effective districts. The report is congruent with KNEA’s advocacy for library media, nursing, counseling, and social work resources for schools. If you invest in these areas, you get a positive return in student achievement.

HREDs support their teachers and value their expertise. The report tells us that HREDs “support and enhance classroom teachers’ performance with on-the-ground instructional guidance and assistance” and “invest in targeted professional development to ensure sustained effectiveness.” In addition, HREDs “use teachers as expert resources for key decisions.” Again, these findings come as no surprise to KNEA. We have repeatedly introduced legislation to move mentoring and peer assistance programs and supported quality professional development. KNEA has even teamed with Greenbush to develop and implement PDC training throughout the state.

HREDs invest in teachers and class sizes. The report found that “the minimum and maximum salaries for HRED teachers and principals are higher than those of all other districts” and that “HREDs have smaller student teacher ratios.” Again, no surprise here. KNEA has been advocating for increased teacher salaries and reduced class size for years.

So what conclusions can be drawn? Follow the advice of KNEA!

• Invest in teachers through competitive salaries and benefits,
• value the expertise of your teachers,
• provide teachers with peer support and quality professional development,
• keep class size manageable, and
• provide instructional and student support so that teachers can teach and students can get help.

House Fed and State Committee makes improvements to concealed carry, sends it to full House

The House Federal and State Affairs Committee amended SB 418, the concealed carry of firearms bill, and sent it on for consideration by the full House.

KNEA had asked that the bill be amended to prohibit the carrying of weapons to any school activities regardless of where they might take place as well as religious facilities and child care centers.

The House committee made three improvements to the bill including some of the KNEA recommendations. Improvements are:

• Provisions under which out of state licenses would only be valid in Kansas if the other state has licensing requirements that are as strict or more strict than Kansas.
• It allows for the revocation of a license if there is a restraining order against a license holder.
• It adds to the prohibitions: public libraries, day care homes or group day care homes, preschools, child care centers, churches and temples.

Unfortunately the Committee did not address school activities held off campus. Under the bill as written, guns are only prohibited at athletic events off campus. Guns would be allowed at non-athletic events including field trips, musical performances, debates, etc.

The bill will likely be taken up the full House next week.

Disposable worker bill out of Committee! Battle moves to House floor!

Senate Bill 461, the disposable worker bill to strip you of most workers compensation benefits if you are older or ever had another injury, passed the Senate and had its hearing in the House. The Committee passed the bill out this morning, moving the battle to the floor of the House.

Key to defeating this bill is getting as many messages as possible to House members. Please take the time to phone or email and ask them to vote NO on SB 461. But not just you! This bill harms every working Kansan.

Who opposes this evil legislation? Among the supporters are:

• Kansas NEA
• Kansas State Firefighters Association
• Kansas State Nurses Association
• AARP of Kansas
• Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace
• Kansas AFL-CIO
• Kansas Association of Public Employees
• The Teamsters
• United Teachers of Wichita
• Wichita Federation of Labor
• Kansas Trial Lawyers Association
• Kansas ACORN
• Kansas Action Network
• Thomas Outdoor Advertising, Inc.

Access our legislative alert by clicking here – write to your representative

Senate Ways and Means Education Subcommittee: More professional development, YES to all day kindergarten

The Senate Ways and Means Subcommittee on the Department of Education recommended two big improvements to the Department of Education Budget.

First, the Department of Education requested $300,000 in funding for the KAL-Tech training program for school administrators. KAL-Tech had been funded with grant money but the source was no longer available and the Department turned to the Legislature for help. Meanwhile the House Education Budget Committee had cut the Governor’s recommendation on professional development by $2 million (from $3 million to $1 million). The Senators upped the professional development pot to $2 million and added a restriction that would earmark $300,000 of that for KAL-Tech. That’s an additional $700,000 for professional development above the House.

The Committee then took up the Department’s request for all day kindergarten funding. After some discussion, the Committee recommended that all day kindergarten be phased in by increasing the student weighting factor for base state aid over three years. A kindergartener currently generates .5 of BSAPP. In 2006-07 a kindergarten student enrolled in a full-time program would generate .65 of BSAPP; in 2007-08 that would increase to .80, and by 2008-09 it would be 1.0. All day kindergarten would be a voluntary program. The Committee sent a message to the Senate Education Committee to include this in their school finance plan. Senate Education Chair Jean Schodorf (R-Wichita) sits on the Ways and Means Subcommittee as do Education Committee members Ruth Teichman (R-Stafford) and Chris Steineger (D-Kansas City ).

Don’t miss a single happening in the Capitol! Click here to subscribe to Under the Dome!

This week’s links:

Click here for KNEA’s Finance in Focus: HB 2986

Click here for KNEA’s Finance in Focus: SB 584

Click here for the Standard & Poor’s school finance website

Education Committees consumed with finance!

House Select Committee deliberates on HB 2986

The House Select Committee on School Finance used its time to discuss HB 2986. Having already held hearings on the bill, this week provided an opportunity for members of the committee to bring amendments.

Representative Valdenia Winn (D-Kansas City ) offered three technical amendments and then proposed that the reallocation of funds in the accountability portion of the bill would not apply until the Legislature fully funded the outcomes based funding suggested by the LPA Study. This amendment failed.

Another Winn amendment directed that the money for the high at-risk students be directed to those students in a district who have the highest deficiency in proficiency. (Her language). This amendment passed.

Committee Chair Kathe Decker (R-Clay Center) proposed inserting the word ‘comparable’ into the vocational courses section when the bill refers to vocational courses that have the same content as courses offered in the technical colleges, vocational schools and post-secondary institutions. The language was accepted.

Decker also offered a clarification amendment under which the words “foundational level” would be changed to “state monies for educational and support services for school districts.” This was needed because there is no such thing as “foundational level funding” in Kansas statute. The change was made to section two of the bill under which the state gets credit for all money going to the State Department of Education in the analysis of school spending.

Decker clarified that the four reports called for in the bill (one each on 4-year-old at-risk, at-risk, bilingual, and vocational education) are not new comprehensive reports. It is the intent of the authors that schools are not to duplicate information already being sent to the state. There might, however, be some new data that would be reported.

The Post Audit Division asked for an amendment to a section that would have them develop standards for accounting systems. Since this is not a function of the Division, the bill will be altered to reflect the Division as advisory only.

The bulk of the Committee discussion on Thursday centered on a motion by Rep. Ray Merrick (R-Stilwell) which would dramatically change the at-risk provisions. Merrick ’s amendment would do three things:

1. eliminate the high density at-risk weighting entirely,
2. distribute at-risk funds on the basis of students below grade level in reading or math based on standardized tests, eliminating free lunch as a funding mechanism, and
3. drop the increases in at-risk in the two out years.

The Merrick amendment created quite a bit of spirited dialogue and brought up many interesting questions. What, for example, is the definition of “below grade level?” What about kids who are not in grades where assessments are given – are none of them at-risk?

Ultimately the amendment was tabled until they could get more information.

What is KNEA’s position on at-risk funding?

KNEA supports a “free lunch plus” approach under which free lunch students would generate at-risk funding as would non-free lunch students who are below proficient in reading or math on the state assessments. This approach recognizes the strong correlation between poverty and being at-risk as well as the fact that poverty is not the only indicator. Free lunch plus recognizes that not all poor children are at-risk and not all at-risk children are poor. 

KNEA supports efforts to bring additional at-risk funds to districts with exceptional problems. We have asked that the Legislature consider high at-risk funding in a manner that recognizes exceptionally high rates of poverty as well as population density. We have supported a melding of HB 2986 and SB 584 on this issue.

KNEA opposes the use of proficiency on state assessments as the only funding mechanism because urban poverty creates stresses under which even students performing well academically are in danger of dropping  out of school. It also does not recognize middle class students who are doing well academically but may be at-risk due to other factors such as teen pregnancy.

Senate Education Committee hears testimony on SB 584

The Senate Education Committee heard from Senate President Steve Morris (R-Hugoton) who explained how the bipartisan group met and decided upon the Senate school finance bill. He emphasized that these were suggestions and will need some work. The funding is within budget limits for the first two years with the third year in need of some revenue enhancements.

Addressing the Committee on SB 584 were Mark Tallman of KASB, Bill Reardon representing the Kansas City Schools, KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti, Kathy Cook of Kansas Families United for Public Education and Stuart Little representing the Shawnee Mission School District.

Ken Daniel, a businessman who appeared before the House Education Committee to bad mouth the LPA study, came to the Senate this time. After criticizing the auditors and Duncombe and Yinger, the Syracuse University researchers who were hired to conduct the outcomes study (Daniel referred to them as Dumkopf and Ying Yang) he took issue with at-risk funding and early childhood programs. Claiming that all day kindergarten and head start make no difference in learning, Daniel said the only thing of importance is assessment in high school and the ACT. In dismissing early childhood efforts Daniel said, “I don’t hire four-year olds.”

Senator Jim Barnett (R-Emporia) appeared before the Committee to talk about his school finance plan (SB 501) which puts $50 million into schools next year, $75 million in the second year, and $100 million in both the third and fourth years. It is based on the chance that a series of tax cuts will generate increased economic development and allow for a 5.5% growth in state revenue. Under questioning Barnett admitted that state fiscal analysts generally use 4.5% economic growth in making revenue predictions.

A conservative uprising?

As we reported last week, Representative Clay Aurand (R-Courtland) came before the House Select Committee and tossed out his idea for a one year plan based on HB 2986 but eliminating the high at-risk weighting and making major changes to the LOB including a 12% mandatory LOB and a change in state support.

This appearance seems to be signaling an uprising among conservative Republicans – who traditionally argue against increased school funding and vote against increases. This is accompanied by much gnashing of teeth and lamentations over the “activist judges” who dare to suggest that the Legislature is not a benevolent master. And this brings us to the education side show known as “constitutional amendments to reign in an out-of-control judiciary.”

Constitutional amendments rolling

The first of what may be many attempts to punish the Supreme Court for doing its job has been run through the Senate – and failed.

SCR 1606 would have altered the manner in which Supreme Court justices are named. Under the constitution now, a nominating panel submits three qualified names to the Governor who makes an appointment to fill a vacancy. It is a relatively simple and smooth process that would be turned into a partisan circus under SCR 1606. This constitutional amendment would require Senate confirmation of the Governor’s selection and allows for an endless list of nominees to be sent forth. If the Senate turned down the first three, the nominating committee would have to come up with three more and the process would start over.

SCR 1606 originally had 28 sponsors – one more than the 27 needed to pass a constitutional amendment – but upon reflection, six of those voted NO and the amendment went down to defeat.

Senate President Steve Morris (R-Hugoton) said it best in his explanation of why he voted NO:

“Our Constitution wisely assigns both joint and separate roles to each branch of the Government. The power of the Executive, Judicial and Legislative branches of government comes directly from the mutual respect with which each must regard the other. Voting to make this change could dramatically alter the process and the delicate balance of power in this state… The new process could possibly take days, and it could easily degenerate into the kind of partisan fight we see in the United States Senate. This will not promote the selection of the best and brightest legal minds to our higher courts. We want justices who possess not only the necessary legal knowledge and experience; we want those individuals who have the courage and objectivity to discern and adhere to the rule of law. I do not believe this amendment sets wise public policy. I do not believe this amendment is in the State’s best interest.”

Up for debate in a House Committee this week is HCR 5032, a constitutional amendment prohibiting the Court from putting money in a remedy. Say the proponents, "How dare the Court say we have to spend more on schools!"

This same amendment was defeated in 2005.

House debates, eviscerates bill repealing immigrant tuition

In the debate on HB 2615, the bill repealing in-state tuition for immigrant students, Democrats and moderate Republicans managed to stop the repeal through a procedure known as a “gut and go.”

Under “gut and go” (once called “eviscerate and proceed” by former Representative Ralph Tanner) a motion is made to strip out all the language from a bill and replace it with something else. In this case Representative Tom Holland (D-Baldwin City ), who replaced Ralph Tanner in the House, moved to gut the bill and replace it with a proposal to increase fines for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Holland suggested that the root issue was why people come to Kansas illegally and not whether or not their children can attend our colleges.

Holland ’s motion was divided at the request of Becky Hutchins (R-Holton), the author of HB 2615. The House then had to take two votes – one to gut the bill and a second to put in the new language. After a spirited debate during which Rep. Mike Kiegerl (R-Olathe) referred to the children of undocumented workers as “people who don’t belong here,” the motion to gut the bill passed.  Others who spoke eloquently in defense of these children who wish to pursue higher education were Mario Goico (R-Wichita) who shared his difficult pursuit of higher education as a refugee from Cuba and Ward Loyd (R-Garden City ) who quoted the U.S. Constitution and told the body that “there is no pursuit of happiness without an education.”  The motion to gut the bill passed 63-58.

Speakers on the floor who defended immigrant children were Goico, Loyd, Josh Svaty (D-Elsworth), Delia Garcia (D-Wichita), and Don Hill (R-Emporia).

Speakers who urged the body to repeal immigrant tuition were Kiegerl, Hutchins, Arlen Siegfreid (R-Olathe), Judy Morrison (R-Shawnee), and Jason Watkins (R-Wichita).

Before the House could vote on putting Holland ’s language into the now empty bill, Hutchins moved to refer the bill back to the House Federal and State Committee. After a new round of debate, the motion to refer passed on a vote of 62-59.

This means that the bill John Edmonds (R-Great Bend), chair of the Federal and State Affairs Committee, tried to stop from ever coming out is back in his Committee! Only now it is just a sheet of paper with a number and a title. Let’s hope it just stays there!

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! Standard and Poor’s efficiency study validates KNEA positions!

The Senate Education Committee returned to a study that we haven’t heard much from lately – the Standard and Poor’s efficiency audit. The S&P study was somewhat overwhelmed by the release of the Legislative Post Audit cost study that has consumed most of the air under the dome.

The auditors from S&P had been scheduled to meet with the Senate Education Committee early in the session but had to cancel due to illness.

Michael Stewart and Jason Kingston of Standard and Poor’s presented the findings of Phase III of the study. This is the evaluation of activities of highly resource-effective districts (HREDs). What the study really delivers is a research high-five for the recommendations of Kansas NEA.

The findings include the following:

HREDs invest more in instructional and student support than low resource-effective districts. The report is congruent with KNEA’s advocacy for library media, nursing, counseling, and social work resources for schools. If you invest in these areas, you get a positive return in student achievement.

HREDs support their teachers and value their expertise. The report tells us that HREDs “support and enhance classroom teachers’ performance with on-the-ground instructional guidance and assistance” and “invest in targeted professional development to ensure sustained effectiveness.” In addition, HREDs “use teachers as expert resources for key decisions.” Again, these findings come as no surprise to KNEA. We have repeatedly introduced legislation to move mentoring and peer assistance programs and supported quality professional development. KNEA has even teamed with Greenbush to develop and implement PDC training throughout the state.

HREDs invest in teachers and class sizes. The report found that “the minimum and maximum salaries for HRED teachers and principals are higher than those of all other districts” and that “HREDs have smaller student teacher ratios.” Again, no surprise here. KNEA has been advocating for increased teacher salaries and reduced class size for years.

So what conclusions can be drawn? Follow the advice of KNEA!

• Invest in teachers through competitive salaries and benefits,
• value the expertise of your teachers,
• provide teachers with peer support and quality professional development,
• keep class size manageable, and
• provide instructional and student support so that teachers can teach and students can get help.

House Fed and State Committee makes improvements to concealed carry, sends it to full House

The House Federal and State Affairs Committee amended SB 418, the concealed carry of firearms bill, and sent it on for consideration by the full House.

KNEA had asked that the bill be amended to prohibit the carrying of weapons to any school activities regardless of where they might take place as well as religious facilities and child care centers.

The House committee made three improvements to the bill including some of the KNEA recommendations. Improvements are:

• Provisions under which out of state licenses would only be valid in Kansas if the other state has licensing requirements that are as strict or more strict than Kansas.
• It allows for the revocation of a license if there is a restraining order against a license holder.
• It adds to the prohibitions: public libraries, day care homes or group day care homes, preschools, child care centers, churches and temples.

Unfortunately the Committee did not address school activities held off campus. Under the bill as written, guns are only prohibited at athletic events off campus. Guns would be allowed at non-athletic events including field trips, musical performances, debates, etc.

The bill will likely be taken up the full House next week.

Disposable worker bill out of Committee! Battle moves to House floor!

Senate Bill 461, the disposable worker bill to strip you of most workers compensation benefits if you are older or ever had another injury, passed the Senate and had its hearing in the House. The Committee passed the bill out this morning, moving the battle to the floor of the House.

Key to defeating this bill is getting as many messages as possible to House members. Please take the time to phone or email and ask them to vote NO on SB 461. But not just you! This bill harms every working Kansan.

Who opposes this evil legislation? Among the supporters are:

• Kansas NEA
• Kansas State Firefighters Association
• Kansas State Nurses Association
• AARP of Kansas
• Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace
• Kansas AFL-CIO
• Kansas Association of Public Employees
• The Teamsters
• United Teachers of Wichita
• Wichita Federation of Labor
• Kansas Trial Lawyers Association
• Kansas ACORN
• Kansas Action Network
• Thomas Outdoor Advertising, Inc.

Access our legislative alert by clicking here – write to your representative

Senate Ways and Means Education Subcommittee: More professional development, YES to all day kindergarten

The Senate Ways and Means Subcommittee on the Department of Education recommended two big improvements to the Department of Education Budget.

First, the Department of Education requested $300,000 in funding for the KAL-Tech training program for school administrators. KAL-Tech had been funded with grant money but the source was no longer available and the Department turned to the Legislature for help. Meanwhile the House Education Budget Committee had cut the Governor’s recommendation on professional development by $2 million (from $3 million to $1 million). The Senators upped the professional development pot to $2 million and added a restriction that would earmark $300,000 of that for KAL-Tech. That’s an additional $700,000 for professional development above the House.

The Committee then took up the Department’s request for all day kindergarten funding. After some discussion, the Committee recommended that all day kindergarten be phased in by increasing the student weighting factor for base state aid over three years. A kindergartener currently generates .5 of BSAPP. In 2006-07 a kindergarten student enrolled in a full-time program would generate .65 of BSAPP; in 2007-08 that would increase to .80, and by 2008-09 it would be 1.0. All day kindergarten would be a voluntary program. The Committee sent a message to the Senate Education Committee to include this in their school finance plan. Senate Education Chair Jean Schodorf (R-Wichita) sits on the Ways and Means Subcommittee as do Education Committee members Ruth Teichman (R-Stafford) and Chris Steineger (D-Kansas City ).

Don’t miss a single happening in the Capitol! Click here to subscribe to Under the Dome!

This week’s links:

Click here for KNEA’s Finance in Focus: HB 2986

Click here for the KSDE – what would each district receive under HB 2986?

Planning to talk to your legislator? Click here to review our powerpoint for citizen-lobbyists!

It’s the Punxsutawny Plan!

The Senate’s school finance plan stuck out its head, gave a look around, and ducked back in meaning, I guess, six more weeks of legislative session.

A bipartisan plan was set to be unveiled on Thursday and made its first appearance at the Ways and Means Committee in the morning. By that afternoon, there was much confusion – particularly about a provision on mandatory LOBs – and before the plan was committed to bill form, it was pulled back in for a re-examination by the authors.

What we can tell about the Senate plan so far is that, like the House plan (HB 2986), it is a three-year phase in and focuses on at-risk funding. Base state aid increases are a bit larger than those in the House plan and correlation weighting changes are smaller. There is also a phase in of more special education funding.

Like the House plan, there is a modified “urban poverty index” as proposed in the Legislative Post Audit Division report. While the LPA study based this on the density of poverty, the House plan provides the funding to school districts with a per pupil density of 212.1 students per square mile and 35.1% of its students on free lunch. The Senate plan provides the increase to the five poorest districts based on free lunch participation. The LPA study gives this extra weighting to USD 500 Kansas City, USD 501 Topeka, USD 202 Turner, and USD 259 Wichita. The House plan would add USD 308 Hutchinson and USD 453 Leavenworth to the list. Under the Senate plan, the extra funding goes to USD 259 Wichita, USD 443 Dodge City, USD 480 Liberal, USD 500 Kansas City, and USD 501 Topeka.

The fly in the ointment has turned out to be a confusing provision regarding mandatory LOBs and transferring authority to the general fund. The provision proved to be so hard to explain and generated so many different explanations that the bill was sent back to the authors to try to ascertain just what they wanted to do.

A hearing on the bill was scheduled for next Monday but those plans appear to be scrapped at this moment due to the re-write of the bill.

Just about everyone has something to say about the House finance plan

The official hearings on HB 2986, the House Select Committee on School Finance plan for addressing the on-going crisis in school funding, began on Wednesday.

This latest plan is in response to the funding study conducted by the Division of the Legislative Post Audit at the request of the 2005 Legislature. While some legislators had hoped that the LPA study would indicate that Kansas was spending plenty on schools, the results actually came in not much different from the much maligned (by legislators) Augenblick and Myers study.

Testimony started with Dr. Bruce D. Baker of the University of Kansas speaking on behalf of Schools for Fair Funding, the coalition of school districts that brought the lawsuit. Baker focused his comments on the Kansas Supreme Court’s mandate that the Legislature’s cost study be tied to “achievement of measurable standards of student proficiency.” To that end, Baker argued that any plan that was not based on student outcomes would not meet that requirement. Baker further argued that the outcomes analysis by Professors Duncombe and Yinger (they were contracted by the LPA to conduct the outcomes analysis) was the most appropriate – more appropriate than the LPA’s modified version of the outcomes study.

Also testifying were Val DeFever representing Schools for Quality Education, a coalition of small school districts. DeFever urged the committee to give schools more flexibility in the use of money and less targeting.

Representative Ray Merrick (R-Stilwell) debated the fairness of the plan based on the impact on his district. Merrick specifically brought up LOB and at-risk funding as issues. Representative O’Neal (R-Hutchinson) wanted to know exactly what “at-risk” is – does at-risk mean in danger of not graduating? In danger of not making proficient on a state assessment?

Third up was Mark Tallman of KASB. The primary point of Tallman’s message was that by phasing in the funding, the state immediately begins to fall behind inflation. You can see this effect in the graph on KNEA’s Finance in Focus document on HB 2986. Click here to see the KNEA Finance in Focus paper. As a result districts will continue to be forced to rely on the LOB.

Also in Tallman’s testimony was a discussion of the “accountablility” and “flexibility” portions of HB 2986. One area is the new mandated paperwork in HB 2986. The bill requires four new annual reports to be filed with the State Department of Education.

Testifying on day two along with KNEA were John Cleek and John Doll of the Louisburg School District, Bill Reardon for Kansas City Schools, Ashland USD Superintendent Jerry Cullen, Bob Van Crum for Blue Valley USD 229, Stuart Little for Shawnee Mission Schools, Kathy Cook of Kansas Families United for Public Education, Sherri Frankenbery representing FACS teachers, Deborah Mock representing Career and Technical Education teachers, and former FACS teacher Mita West. All of these presenters shared both the good points and concerns with the bill in its current form. General agreement is that we need more for at-risk children although perhaps we can modify the way we distribute the money (KNEA and KASB maintain that any change should add to free lunch and not be a replacement for free lunch). Other points of general agreement dealt with the overall funding level in the bill (considered to be too small) and concern for the slow phase in of the funding.

Speaking against everything was conservative small business owner Ken Daniel, a regular at legislative meetings in which money is discussed. Daniel suggested that the legislature just ignore everything in the LPA study which he considers unscientific and deeply flawed. Most interesting were his comments on poverty and student achievement. Maintaining that there is no relationship between poverty and educational outcomes, Daniel asked if anyone had ever considered that some kids are just smarter than others.

The hearing took up the allotted time and discussion by the committee was scheduled for Friday but…

Rep. Aurand has an idea…

Yes, Representative Clay Aurand (R-Courtland) came before the House Select Committee and tossed out his idea for a one year plan based on HB 2986 but eliminating the high at-risk weighting and making major changes to the LOB including a 12% mandatory LOB and a change in state support. Aurand’s proposal was not in bill form and would take a lot of discussion and analysis to fully understand.

Aurand’s idea seemed to take the committee aback and it was decided to put off work on HB 2986.

Disposable worker bill to get a hearing in the House on Monday and Tuesday

Senate Bill 461, the disposable worker bill to strip you of  most workers compensation benefits if you are older or ever had another injury, passed the Senate last week and has its hearing in the House next week. The House Commerce Committee members are key to defeating this bill. Please take the time to phone or email and ask them to vote NO on SB 461. Look below for talking points or log onto the website of the Kansas Coalition for Workplace Safety by clicking here.

Republicans: Don Dahl, Scott Schwab, Mike Burgess, John Grange, Joe Humerickhouse, Terri Huntington, Dan Johnson, Mike Kiegerl, Patricia Kilpatrick, Ty Masterson, Charles Roth, Stephanie Sharp, Kay Wolf,

Democrats: Candy Ruff, Delia Garcia, Bob Grant, Broderick Henderson, Jan Pauls, Louis Ruiz

Talking Points on SB 461

Passage of SB 461 is not about making good policy.

Does Kansas need this workers compensation “reform?”

• Kansas employers pay the 6^th lowest workers compensation insurance premiums in the United States.
• Kansas employees receive the 4^th lowest workers compensation benefits in the United States.
• Kansas is 6^th in profitability for insurance companies on workers compensation in the United States.

Senate Bill 461 guarantees even lower premiums for Kansas business, even greater profits for insurance companies, and lower benefits for injured Kansas workers.

• Lower premiums for Kansas business,
• Bigger profits for Kansas insurance companies,
• Lower benefits for injured Kansas workers.

SB 461 hurts working Kansans

• In a work related injury your age can be considered a “pre-existing condition” and used to reduce your benefits.
• If you are injured and laid off for an “economic reason,” which can be anything from a stock market drop to a worry about sales figures, you are not entitled to workers compensation benefits.
• Workers with dangerous jobs such as fire fighters can have their benefits for a serious injury reduced by minor injuries suffered on the job in previous accidents.
• Accepted medical guides for rating injuries are replaced by doctors’ opinions.

Who wants this bill? The Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Industry, big insurance executives, and Kansas conservative candidate for Lieutenant Governor Susan Wagle (a member of the Committee that approved the bill).

House Fed and State Committee: immigrants no; guns probably

Committee votes to repeal immigrant tuition

Immigrant children were the victims of the Kansas Legislature this week. They were delivered a blow when the House Federal and State Affairs Committee approved HB 2615, a bill repealing a Kansas statute which gives certain of these children in-state tuition rates at Kansas institutions of post-secondary education.

Kansas law currently allows the children of undocumented workers who have attended a Kansas high school for three years and either graduated from a Kansas high school or hold a GED issued in Kansas to attend a state institution of post-secondary education at the resident tuition rate provided the student signs an affidavit saying that he/she will seek legal status.

Representative Becky Hutchins (R-Holton) has sought to repeal that law and effectively deny these high achieving students access to a college education. The bill failed to come out of committee when a motion to pass it failed on a tie vote on February 15. In the meantime, House Speaker Doug Mays (R-Topeka), a proponent of the repeal, called Committee Chairman John Edmonds and asked him to hold a second vote.

In committee this time, Representative Lance Kinzer (R-Olathe) moved and Rep. Ray Merrick (R-Stilwell) seconded a motion to vote the bill out favorably. At that point, Representative Ann Mah (D-Topeka) offered a substitute motion to amend the bill by simply having the current law sunset if it were to be found in conflict with federal law (as the proponents of repeal claim). Mah’s motion failed on vote of 8-12. In voting on the Kinzer motion, the repeal was approved on the same vote.

Voting to repeal resident tuition for these students were Republicans Lynne Oharah, Lance Kinzer, Ray Merrick, Steve Brunk, Don Myers, Everett Johnson, Don Dahl, Judy Morrison, Anthony Brown, Arlen Siegfried and Richard Kelsey and Democrat Ann Mah,

Voting no on the repeal were Democrats Judy Loganbill, Nile Dilmore, Candy Ruff, Tom Burroughs, Melody Miller, and Tom Hawk and Republicans Barbara Craft, and Kenny Wilk.

KNEA testified against the repeal along with the Board of Regents, the Kansas Hispanic and Latino Affairs Commission, Kansas League of Women Voters, KASB, the Kansas Catholic Conference, El Centro, Kansas United Methodist Women, the American GI Forum, USD 259 (Wichita ), and Kansas Families United for Public Education. 

Click here to read the KNEA testimony.

Concealed carry gets hearing; looks popular

The House Federal and State Affairs Committee also held a hearing on SB 418, the concealed carry of firearms bill. It went much the same as it did in the Senate with the same proponents (Senator Journey and the NRA) and the same opponents (municipalities and Safe State Kansas ) and the same amendment requests (KNEA). KNEA continues to ask for off campus school activities, churches and child care facilities to be places where guns are prohibited. The only difference in this hearing was the number of library advocates who came to ask for a prohibition on firearms in libraries.

We expect the bill to come out of committee like greased lightning.

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Under the Dome is published every day the Legislature is in session. Monday through Thursday it is a review of the day’s activities and a preview of upcoming issues. On Friday it is Legislative Week in Review in which we recap all the action of the past week including Friday.

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House Select Committee comes up with a school finance plan!

The House Select Committee on School Finance put out the first serious school finance plan of the session on Thursday morning. It is contained in House Bill 2986.

As expected the plan is a three-year phase in and, by the 2008-09 school year would provide about $500 million in additional funding for K-12 education in Kansas. The plan focuses on at-risk funding and accountability. Among its provisions are:

• An increase in the at-risk weighting from the current 0.193 to 0.484 in 2008-09. In addition there is a modified “urban poverty index” as proposed in the Legislative Post Audit Division report. Instead of offering this additional funding on the basis of density of poverty, the Select Committee plan provides the funding to school districts with a per pupil density of 212.1 students per square mile and 35.1% of its students on free lunch. Eligible districts would get an addition 0.242 by 2008-09. The total weighting for these districts would be .726 – exactly what the LPA proposed. While the LPA study gave this extra weighting to USD 500 Kansas City, USD 501 Topeka, USD 202 Turner, and USD 259 Wichita, this proposal would add USD 308 Hutchinson and USD 453 Leavenworth to the list.
• Correlation weighting would be called “High Enrollment Equalization Factor” and would drop by 90 students over the three years from the current 1662 to 1572. This helps mid-size and large school districts. The proposal does not otherwise change low-enrollment weighting.
• Vocational weighting would be increased from 0.50 to 0.62 but fewer programs would be funded. Districts could only count those programs for which the course content is the same as those in technical schools, technical colleges, or other post-secondary institutions. The new weighting means there would be no reduction in the overall vocational funding level.
• Base State Aid Per Pupil (BSAPP) would see a $50 increase in year one, $49 in year two, and $35 in year three.

The bill will also have new accountability requirements on school districts including required annual reports on at-risk programs, preschool-aged at-risk programs, bilingual programs, and vocational programs. Before creating a budget every school district will have to conduct a needs analysis of each individual attendance center. And if a school is not meeting accreditation standards or student standards, or not offering the state required curriculum, the State Board can require the school district to reallocate all of that school’s funding to meeting the identified problem.

A hearing on the bill has been scheduled for next Wednesday and Thursday with possible committee action on Friday.

To see our Finance Plan in Focus on the Select Committee’s plan (HB 2986), click here.

It’s official! You’re disposable!

Senate Bill 461, the disposable worker bill that is designed to deny workers compensation benefits to most Kansas workers was approved in the full Senate on a vote of 28 to 12.

Voting to abandon older workers, returning Iraq war veterans, fire fighters and every other working Kansan so that insurance companies can make bigger profits, 28 Republican Senators enthusiastically voted in favor of SB 461. Only two Republicans stood up for working Kansans – Roger Reitz of Manhattan and Phil Journey of Wichita joined with all 10 Democrats in opposing the bill.

Voting to strip you of workers compensation benefits were: Barbara Allen, Pat Apple, Jim Barnett, Karin Brownlee, Terry Bruce, Pete Brungardt, Jay Emler, Tim Huelskamp, Nick Jordan, Carolyn McGinn, Steve Morris, Kay O’Connor, Ralph Ostmeyer, Peggy Palmer, Mike Peterson, Roger Pine, Dennis Pyle, Derek Schmidt, Vickie Schmidt, Jean Schodorf, Mark Taddiken, Ruth Teichman, Dwayne Umbarger, John Vratil, Susan Wagle, Dennis Wilson, and David Wysong.

Senator Jay Emler has tried to explain his vote as a way to “force the parties to the table to negotiate.” Now that Senator Emler and 28 others have voted to give one party – KCCI – everything they want, why should KCCI go to the table?

And proving that politics is more important than protecting workers, some Senators who voted to stop this bill in past legislative sessions – Senators like Tim Huelskamp – jumped on Susan Wagle’s anti-worker bandwagon. They want this bill on the Governor’s desk so she will veto it and they can run attack ads calling her anti-business.

SB 461: More politics than policy

With this bill the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Industry has a goal: stop paying benefits to injured workers.

Conservative Republicans have a goal: trash Governor Sebelius and elect a conservative ideologue to the Governor’s office.

The two got together and were supported by moderate Republicans on Senate Bill 461 as the way to achieve their goals.

Make no mistake about it; passage of SB 461 is not about making good policy. It is all about putting a bill wanted by “business” on the Governor’s desk that is so evil – so anti-worker – that she has no choice but to veto it. You can be sure that the KCCI, the Kansas Republican Assembly, and the Kansas Club for Growth are already drooling over proposed anti-Sebelius campaign attack ads.

Does Kansas need this workers compensation “reform?”

• Kansas employers pay the 6^th lowest workers compensation insurance premiums in the United States.
• Kansas employees receive the 4^th lowest workers compensation benefits in the United States.
• Kansas is 6^th in profitability for insurance companies on workers compensation in the United States.

Senate Bill 461 guarantees even lower premiums for Kansas business, even greater profits for insurance companies, and lower benefits for injured Kansas workers.

• Lower premiums for Kansas business,
• Bigger profits for Kansas insurance companies,
• Lower benefits for injured Kansas workers.

Who wants this bill? The Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Industry, big insurance executives, and Kansas conservative candidate for Lieutenant Governor Susan Wagle (a member of the Committee that approved the bill).

This anti-worker bill now goes to the House for consideration.

Sex Ed Curriculum bill passes Senate

The Senate also took up sex education this week, passing SB 508 out of the Education Committee and then taking it to a floor vote.

The bill would reinstate statutorily sex ed curriculum requirements that were allowed to lapse by the State Board of Education. The bill requires a sex ed program to emphasize abstinence and provide students with age-appropriate and medically accurate information. It also maintained the current opt-out provision under which all students would participate in the class unless their parents opt them out.

An amendment by Senator Kay O’Connor (R-Olathe) would change the bill to include an opt-in provision under which no child would participate unless the parent chose to opt the child in to the class. Her motion failed on a vote of 12-25.

On final action, SB 508 passed on a vote of 27-13.

New subscription service now available for our readers!

Beginning right now, you can get our daily legislative update, Under the Dome, delivered to your own email inbox by subscribing on the KNEA website. If you are depending on someone forwarding a copy to you or remembering to check the website every evening, you can use our electronic subscription service to get emailed to you every day.

Under the Dome is published every day the legislature is in session. Monday through Thursday it is a review of the day’s activities and a preview of upcoming issues. On Friday it is Legislative Week in Review in which we recap all the action of the past week including Friday.

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Turn Around: a little break for legislators (and lobbyists)

We have now reached turn around – the time by which all bills must be approved by the chamber of origin. Both chambers adjourned today – the House before noon and the Senate by about 6:30.

Monday will be a day off and Tuesday will be “pro forma,” a day on which they simply show up but no work gets done. We will likely not have a report until Wednesday.

Enjoy the turn around break!

This week’s link:

TAKE ACTION!  To contact the members of the Committee and urge them to vote NO on SB 461, click here. You will be directed to an alert on the website of the Kansas Coalition for Workplace Safety.

Senate Commerce Committee continues to debate SB 461 – the disposable workers bill

Senate Bill 461, the disposable worker bill that is designed to deny workers compensation benefits to most Kansas workers, continues to be debated in the Senate Commerce Committee.

The bill contains two provisions that will effectively deny benefits to most Kansas workers:

• A “pre-existing conditions” proposal that would allow employers to count an employee’s age or weight as reasons to deny part or all of a claim, and
• A “capacity to earn” provision that allows your employer and insurance company to hire a consultant and, if that consultant determined that you could earn 90% of your pre-disability wages (that you have the “capacity to earn” 90% of your pre-disability wages), then you would get no benefits.

There are plenty of evils in this bill. And such “reform” ignores the fact that workers compensation premium rates for employers have been dropping – down by 2% last year alone – and that Kansas workers compensation insurance providers are making a profit. Kansas is one of only six states where the insurance providers are making a profit on workers compensation insurance. Kansas premiums and benefits are among the lowest in the United States.

This bill, sought by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is among the most anti-worker bills filed in the legislature.

Opponents of the bill include Kansas Fire Fighters, the Kansas State Nurses Association, the American Association of Retired Persons, Kansas NEA, and the Kansas AFL-CIO.

In a twist on family relationships, Doug Allen, brother of bill supporter Senator Karin Brownlee, testified against the bill. Allen was injured on the job and eventually had to hire an attorney to get medical treatment. Brownlee was quoted in the Topeka Capital-Journal as saying, “It’s extremely sad that the trial attorneys didn’t make sure that he got the health care he deserves.” Yet Allen was forced to rely on a trial attorney to get medical care! Click here to read the Capital-Journal account.

The Committee is expected to vote on the bill on Tuesday. TAKE ACTION!  To contact the members of the Committee and urge them to vote NO on SB 461, click here. You will be directed to an alert on the website of the Kansas Coalition for Workplace Safety.

Everybody’s talking about Higher Education!

House Higher Ed talks about expanding the state wide mill levy for the Regents…

The House Higher Education Committee held a hearing on HB 2745, a bill which would increase the state wide mill levy for higher education from one to four mills and require that two of the three additional mills be for building repair and one of the three for technology upgrades. Much has been made recently of the Regent’s inability to keep up with the increasing costs of maintaining our higher education facilities.

…then passes income tax surcharge to fund repairs to Regents campuses!

After the hearing on HB 2745, Rep. Bill Otto (R-LeRoy) offered an amendment that changed the funding to a 3.65% income tax surcharge. The bill passed out of the House Higher Education Committee on a 7-6 vote. It should be something to watch the floor debate on this one!

Senate Tax considers some limited tax authority for tech colleges

Senate Bill 311, heard in the Senate Taxation Committee, would allow tech colleges to levy a property tax for adult basic education. The bill applies immediately only to the Wichita Area Technical College and Flint Hills Technical College, allowing a current USD mill levy for adult basic education to be effectively transferred to the technical college.

Senators expressed concern about opening up another entity with the authority to levy local property taxes and suggested the bill might be the “nose under the tent.”

No action was taken on the bill.

House Fed and State Committee votes to kill repeal of immigrant tuition bill

In a surprise move the House Federal and State Affairs Committee brought up HB 2516 – the bill proposed by Rep. Becky Hutchins (R-Holton) to repeal in-state tuition for immigrant children. KNEA opposed this bill which would effectively deny higher education opportunities to high achieving Kansas high school graduates based on their parents’ immigration status.

A motion to move the bill out of committee with a favorable recommendation failed on a vote of 11-11 with Committee Chairman John Edmonds (R-Great Bend) casting the deciding vote. The vote had been 11-10 with the measure passing when Edmonds announced that the “Chair votes no.” A motion with a tie vote fails. A special thank you goes to Representative Edmonds whose vote preserves opportunity for many deserving young people.

Usually this action would mark the death of a bill but this is a highly charged issue and, at least in the past, Representative Hutchins has suggested she will take it to the floor. We’ll be watching for it to be attached to some other education or higher education bill during floor debate.

Senate Ed Committee hears technical changes to Regents issues

The Senate Education Committee turned its attention to two higher ed bills – SB 375 which deals with calculating salaries and SB 436 which separates community college personnel evaluation from k-12 personnel evaluation.

SB 375 eliminates a requirement on post-secondary institutions to pay KPERS for certain classes of employees who don’t receive KPERS benefits. They pay now because their wages are counted as part of total payroll. The bill was sought by the Regents through the Legislative Education Planning Committee.

SB 436 moves language about in the same statute but keeps the language intact. There are no changes to personnel evaluation. All the bill does is keep evaluations done by USDs in a separate section from evaluations done by community colleges.

House Tax considers limiting property tax appraisals

One of the perennial favorites was up for discussion in the House Taxation Committee. House Concurrent Resolution 5027 would cap property tax appraisals for tax purposes at no more than the consumer price index. This popular proposal is usually targeted for only retired persons but the current bill would apply to every Kansan.

The problem with such a bill is that it does nothing to help the taxpayer. The resulting decline in revenue from capped appraisals would result in one of two scenarios. Under one scenario, declining revenues are met with cuts to services from local governments – police, fire, libraries, schools, etc. But if local governments want to maintain services, they would have to raise mill levies. Either way, the citizens lose.

Testifying in favor of the proposal were Rep. Kathe Decker (R-Clay Center ), the author of the bill, the Clay County appraiser, a Johnson County business owner who also wanted the proposal expanded to include all real and personal property and to include a ban on increased mill levies, and anti-government, anti-tax lobbyist Karl Peterjohn. Testifying against the bill were Don Moller of the Kansas League of Municipalities and Mark Desetti of Kansas NEA. Desetti spoke on behalf of both KNEA and the Kansas Association of School Boards.

No action was taken on the bill.

House Select Committee begins deliberations on school finance

The House Select Committee on School Finance inquired about vocational programs in the state of Kansas from a representative of Kansas State Department of Education.  Representative DeCastro (R-Wichita) expressed disappointment in the fact that in school districts across the state many classes listed as vocational classes did not seem to be vocational in nature. This concern was echoed by Chairperson Kathe Decker (R-Clay Center ) who proposed leaving the current weightings in place but narrowing the field of what is a vocational course.  This was followed by Representative O’Neal who advocated returning to the original Augenblick and Myers Study proposal to delete the vocational weighting altogether. Chairman Decker stated that family and consumer science should be dropped from the vocational program listing for weighting purposes.

A representative of the Legislative Post Audit team described the research method used to determine the Vocational Weighting used in the LPA Report. Chairperson Kathe Decker (R-Clay Center ) stated that both Augenblick and Myers and the LPA report indicated a need to change the vocational weighting. She said that the LPA is conducting a study of costs of the expensive vocational programs around the state and that information would be available on Monday. Decker then directed the staff to look at courses that would truly be vocational classes and would mirror the courses in our vocational technical schools and to report back to the committee.

Senate Ed deliberates on…

…At-risk funding

The Senate Education Committee took up Senate Bill 509 which would change the distribution of at risk funds from its current basis of free lunch students to students below proficient on a math or reading assessment. It would also change at-risk funding from a weighting to a block grant.

KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti spoke on behalf of the School Finance Coalition (Kansas National Education Association, Kansas Association of School Boards, United School Administrators, Schools for Quality Education, Schools for Fair Funding, Wichita Public Schools, Kansas City Kansas Public Schools, the Kansas Education Coalition, and Kansas Families United for Public Education) in opposing the block grant idea. Said Desetti, ”The establishment of a categorical fund would establish a finite amount of funds for at risk each year.” A block grant would create a situation not unlike the current special education funding problem. That is, the state would set an amount of money to be spent on at-risk programs and then have to prorate the reimbursement to school districts. Instead of paying actual costs for at-risk programs, the state would be sending a percentage of the costs.

Mark Tallman of the Kansas Association of School Boards then spoke on behalf of both KASB and KNEA in opposing the change from free lunch to students below proficient in reading and math. KASB and KNEA believe that the state could add students below proficient in reading and math to the calculation but must not eliminate the inclusion of free lunch students – a “free lunch PLUS” proposal. There is a strong correlation between poverty and at-risk status so KNEA and KASB support funding based on poverty. There are also young people who are not in poverty but exhibit at-risk behavior. For these reasons Kansas NEA would support funding both.

…Teacher scholarships

The Senate Education Committee scheduled a hearing on a brand new bill, SB 566 by Senators Derek Schmidt (R-Independence) and Dennis Wilson (R-Overland Park ), that would establish scholarships for holders of associate’s degrees wishing to pursue a BA and licensure as a special education teacher and licensed teachers wishing to pursue an advanced degree.

SB 566 would give many paraprofessionals the opportunity to complete a college education by supporting a “grow your own” type program. In addition, it would provide grants for current teachers to pursue a master’s degree. The program would be subject to appropriations which could put a limit on the number of participants or result in prorating the benefit.

KNEA testified in support of the concept but raised some concerns about specific parts of the bill. “One concern,” said KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti, “is what would happen to the scholarship recipient who is caught in a reduction in force? If, for example, a scholarship recipient in a declining enrollment school district is laid off after three years of teaching, what obligation does the recipient have to repay the state? While some may have the ability to pick up and move, others may not.” SB 566 requires a 10 year teaching commitment while other teacher scholarship bills require only a three year commitment.

Senator Wilson suggested that this would attract and retain many teachers in Kansas. Desetti suggested that there were other ways to attract and retain teachers including higher salaries, good health benefits, support for new teachers, and quality professional development.

Bills to protect children pass the House

(But some still say NO!)

Several bills of interest to advocates for children have passed the House of Representatives and will now go to the Senate for consideration.

House Bill 2611 requiring children to be secured in seat belts in cars and specifying which children must be secured in booster seats passed the House on a vote of 90 – 29.

House Bill 2732 prohibiting unattended children from being left in a motor vehicle passed the House on a vote of 79 – 40.

House Bill 2541 changing the marriage age to no younger than 16 and requiring parental or court consent for marriage by 16 or 17 year olds passed on a vote of 121 – 1.

Representatives Anthony Brown (R-Eudora), Forrest Knox (R-Fredonia), Richard Carlson (R-St. Mary’s), Virgil Peck (R-Tyro), Steve Huebert (R-Valley Center), Bonnie Huy (R-Wichita), Kasha Kelly (R-Arkansas City), and Virginia Beamer (R-Oakley) went on record as opposed to mandatory seat belts and car seats for children as “another instance of government intrusion into the lives of families.” Huy, Kelly, and Sharon Schwartz (R-Washington) made the same argument to justify their opposition to the unattended and unsupervised children in motor vehicles safety act.

We were really curious as to why one representative – Bonnie Huy (R-Wichita) – would vote no on the marriage bill. Representative Huy went on record in explaining her vote. At her request, her remarks were printed in the House Journal for Valentine’s Day. Here is what she had to say after casting the lone NO vote on HB 2541:

“MR. SPEAKER: I’m somewhat conflicted by HB 2541. Although I do not embrace underage marriages, my youngest sister was married at 15 to a 23 year old with my mother’s unenthusiastic consent. They have raised five children and she and her husband just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Loretta Lynn was married at 13 with her parent’s consent to a much older man and remained married to him until his death. Many of these marriages do work out. Again government is interfering with the rights of parents to raise their children. After much thought and consideration, I vote no.”

This bill was proposed after it was discovered that a Nebraska man who might have been prosecuted for having engaged in sexual relations with a minor had escaped prosecution by coming to Kansas and getting married – a marriage that was not allowed under Nebraska law.

Retirement benefit increases get hearings

The House Retirement Subcommittee held hearings on five KPERS bills.

KNEA lobbyist Terry Forsyth testified in support of all five proposals:

• House Bill 2189 would increase the lump-sum death benefit from $4,000 to $5,000,
• House Bill 2191 would provide for a 3% COLA for those who retired before July 1^st 2004,  
• House Bill 2766 would provide a 2.5% COLA,
• House Bill 2430 would provide a one time $300 benefit payment, and
• House Bill 2892 which would increase the minimum check to those who retired before July 1^st 1971. This group receives the smallest benefit in the KPERS system. There are approximately 30 people in this group and their average age is 99.

To read any bill on line, go to the Kansas Legislative Service Web Page: http://www.ksLegislature.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi

Type in the bill number and click on “search.”

This week’s links:

Gary Brunk of Kansas Action for Children spoke to the PTA about the evils of TABOR. Learn the truth about TABOR from the Coalition for a Prosperous Kansas. Click here.

 

Commissioner Corkins proposal on charter schools got a hearing this week. Learn about the Kansas Alliance for Education and how you can help change the State Board. Click here.

The Kansas Parent Teacher Association held its annual legislative conference in Topeka on Monday and starting things off were Gary Brunk of Kansas Action for Children, Mark Desetti of KNEA, and Mark Tallman of KASB. Brunk focused his remarks on the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights and other efforts to restrict the state’s ability to raise revenue and fund programs while Desetti and Tallman addressed the Legislative Post Audit study and other bills currently before the Legislature. PTA members are strong advocates for public schools and natural allies of KNEA and KASB. Desetti and Tallman traditionally review the legislative session at the PTA conference.

House School Finance Committee continues Post Audit discussion

For two days this week, the House Select Committee on School Finance reviewed and heard testimony on portions of the Legislative Post Audit Cost Study.

Tuesday: The Regional Cost Index

The Legislative Post Audit Division worked to determine if there was a regional factor that would impact salaries as school districts work to recruit and retain teachers. The study looked at three issues that were deemed to be “out of the district’s control.” Those are: the regional cost of living based on housing prices in the district’s county and adjoining counties, the working conditions of the district calculated by considering the poverty of the district, and the community amenities of the region based on proximity to an urban center. If you are far from an urban center, have a challenging student population, or have a high cost of living, your district would need to pay more to attract teachers. If you are close to an urban center, have a less challenging student population, or have a low cost of living, your district could pay less and still attract teachers. At least that is the premise of the analysis. Each of the three issues is analyzed separately and a summary index is calculated for every district.

The Blue Valley and Kansas City School Districts both testified in favor of the proposal. KNEA testified that the concept in the regional cost index was an improvement over the “sweet 17” from last year in that the Post Audit examined salary needs on a regional basis and not on a district by district basis. In addition the LPA study accounts for more than simply the cost of housing by adding in the challenging nature of a particular student population and the draw of community amenities; access to museums, restaurants, and cultural events.

KNEA went on to say:

“The flaw in the proposal is that it does not address the core issue which is teacher salaries and benefits in general. Kansas teacher salaries last year ranked 42^nd in the United States. It is possible that our ranking will improve somewhat with the influx of school funds from the special session but it is unlikely that it will rise significantly.”

“Kansas NEA believes that your first priority in this area must be to address the overall level of salaries and benefits for teachers. We would urge the Legislature to first address the underlying teacher salary problem.”

Wednesday: Transportation Weighting

Because there is a general lack of understanding about how the transportation formula works, the Post Audit report seems to have taken many people by surprise.

The study took a very strict look at the formula and applied it rigidly. For example, since under the formula, children living within the city limits whose school is also within the city limits are not eligible for transportation weighting regardless of the distance they might live from school. The result of the study is that many school districts – and in particular urban or suburban school districts – would lose transportation funding.

The Committee heard from USD 259 Wichita, United School Administrators, and Kansas NEA on this issue. KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti, asked the Committee to consider changes to the formula that would allow funding for children within the city limits, address issues of safety such as crossing arterial roads or highways, and reduce the distance from the current 2.5 miles. Said Desetti,

“The LPA study rigidly applies current law to transportation weighting and has made recommendations accordingly. But the study also recommends that legislators examine the current transportation formula and make some decisions on possible adjustments which might include changing the distance requirement or the “within the city” limitation. KNEA believes that the Legislature needs to address ways in which the state might provide student transportation within a reasonable distance and that the issue of student safety should be addressed.”

Let the wild rumpus begin!

Friday the House Education Committee began a hearing on House Bill 2652, the charter schools bill proposed by Education Commissioner Corkins and endorsed by six members of the State Board of Education. The bill would allow folks who want to open a charter school with public money to circumvent approval by the local board of education by taking their case to the State Board.

Advocates for the bill include Dr. Betty Horton who, when asked what kinds of things they would want to waive under their charter, started by listing the 180 day school year and an opportunity to let students do community service or get workplace experience as part of their education. Since both are already permitted under Kansas law, she honed in on her real desire. Horton told the committee that she wanted teachers to “work longer and harder for the same pay.” She expressed a need for teachers who “don’t look at the clock” and who work not to the end of the day but “until it’s learned.” So what they really want are 24-hour teachers on 8-hour pay; something we once called “indentured servitude.”

Opponents of the bill included Dr. Bill Wagnon, a member of the State Board of Education who made it clear he was representing himself and his constituents and not the Board, and Tony Sawyer, Superintendent of Topeka USD 501.

Wagnon suggested that by overriding the local board’s authority, the State Board would be taking on responsibility for local schools. The Kansas Constitution requires that public schools be under the control of a local school board. Wagnon asserted that the proposal might be unconstitutional.

Sawyer spoke of the successes of Topeka ’s Hope Street Academy and of the attempt by charter school proponents to take over two schools in Topeka. The charter applicants would have displaced students who did not want to attend their “theme-based” school and would have driven up costs for the district by requiring large expenditures in transportation.

The Committee ran out of time before all the opponents could be heard. The hearing will continue on Monday when Mark Tallman of KASB will speak on behalf of both KASB and KNEA, Robert Van Crum will speak on behalf of both Blue Valley USD 229 and Wichita USD 259, and Kathy Cook will speak on behalf of Kansas Families United for Public Education.

Full Senate approves concealed carry without amendments

The Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee passed Senate Bill 418, the concealed carry of firearms bill and sent it on to the full Senate. Objecting to passage were Senators John Vratil (R-Leawood) and Roger Reitz (R-Manhattan). Other Senators may have voted no but it was a voice vote and not all voices were audible.

In Committee, Reitz asked Senator Phil Journey (R-Wichita) why he did not insert a provision to prohibit weapons in churches. Journey responded that churches could post a notice indicating that firearms would not be allowed. Reitz suggested that a large sign in the entrance to his church announcing that firearms would not be permitted inside seemed somehow inappropriate.

KNEA has no position on whether or not Kansas should allow concealed carry licenses but does advocate for sensible laws that include protections for children and school employees. We had asked the committee to consider prohibitions in churches, child care facilities, and at all off-campus school activities. None of those amendments were taken up.

Among the troubling provisions:

• Concealed firearms would be permitted at school activities off campus except for athletic activities,
• Concealed firearms would also be permitted in churches and child care centers unless otherwise posted by the church or child care center,
• Kansas would be a “shall issue” state under which the Attorney General would have no discretion in granting licenses (many states are “may issue” states),
• Licenses issued by other states would be valid in Kansas even if the state has lower licensing standards.

In addressing the issue of license reciprocity, a representative of Safe State Kansas pointed out in testimony that, when an Oklahoma Highway Patrol officer spotted a gun under Timothy McVeigh’s coat, McVeigh offered his New York State concealed carry license as proof that he was allowed to have the gun. McVeigh was told that the license meant nothing in Oklahoma and he was arrested.

A floor amendment by Senator David Wysong (R-Mission Hills) to prohibit firearms in churches failed on a vote of 16-24. Another Wysong motion to prohibit firearms in public libraries failed on a vote of 15-25. An amendment by Senator Greta Goodwin (D-Winfield) to prohibit firearms in Veterans Hospitals or health care facilities for veterans failed on a vote of 13-26.

The bill then passed the full Senate on a vote of 29-11.

Voting NO on the bill were Republican Senators Barbara Allen, Pete Brungardt, Roger Reitz, Vickie Schmidt, Jean Schodorf, John Vratil, and David Wysong and Democratic Senators Donald Betts, Marci Francisco, Greta Goodwin, and Janis Lee.

House Tax Committee considers a sales tax “holiday”

House Bill 2601, a bill which provides a sales tax holiday for school supplies, clothing and computers had a hearing in the House Taxation Committee. The bill would institute a sales tax holiday for specific school related goods during a weekend in either July or August. The research department estimates that the “holiday” will cost the state about $3.7 million in income and that state and local governments would lose about $1 million in income. Representative Virgil Peck who is a sponsor of the bill spoke as a proponent stating that “this bill would be good for Kansas families and Kansas Businesses.” About 12 states now have similar laws. Research cited by one local government lobbyist showed that many retailers raise their prices on Missouri’s tax free weekend to increase their profits and that there is a significant problem with retailers differentiating between tax and non-tax items on the tax holiday weekend. When asked how Kansas would be able to police abuses during the tax holiday, Representative Peck responded that there would be no way to check to see if people were able to buy non-tax free items on the tax holiday weekend.

Other bills getting hearings

House Education Committee:

• House Bill 2625, a bill which would allow different districts to mutually fund construction of a school building, was introduced at the request of school districts in Doniphan County.
• House Bill 2578 allows for 50 scholarships of $6,000 each for students pursuing a teaching license in Special Education. Representatives Pat Colloton (R-Leawood) and Kathe Decker (R-Clay Center ) proposed the bill.
• House Bill 2684 would provide a one time payment of $1,000 to each early high school graduate and a $3,000 scholarship to a technical college.
• House Bill 2711 would establish a set of qualifications for the position of Commissioner of Education.

Senate Education Committee:

• Senate Bill 331 would allow a Technical College to revert to a Technical School.
• Senate Bill 481 extends a provision that allows consolidating districts to receive the sum of both districts’ state funding for three years after the consolidation.
• Senate Bill 330 allows withdrawals from the Learning Quest college savings program in the first year of investment with no penalties.

To read any bill on line, go to the Kansas Legislative Service Web Page: http://www.ksLegislature.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi

Type in the bill number and click on “search.”

This week’s links:

First finance plan of the session In Focus: Senator Jim Barnett (R-Emporia) has introduced a school finance bill. Read our School Finance In Focus summary. Click here.

 

KNEA testimony before the House Select Committee on School Finance: What KNEA is saying to the Legislature.

 

House School Finance Committee continues Post Audit discussion

For three days this week, the House Select Committee on School Finance reviewed and heard testimony on portions of the Legislative Post Audit Cost Study.

Tuesday: At-risk funding

The study recommends a new weighting of .484, up from the current .193. In addition, they recommend an additional weighting of .242 for four school districts which have a high density of students living in poverty. Research they reviewed indicated that where poverty is highly concentrated, schools face additional challenges in moving students to high levels of achievement. Under the LPA recommendation, all schools would see a dramatic increase in at-risk funds while the Kansas City, Turner, Wichita, and Topeka school districts would receive the  additional “urban poverty weight.”

KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti expressed support for the higher weightings but also discussed other related issues being discussed in the capitol. There continues to be pressure to change the distribution of at-risk funds from the number of free-lunch students in a district to some other at-risk indicator. For example, a proposal this year would distribute the at-risk weighting based on the number of children below proficient in math or reading on a standardized test.

KNEA has supported legislative efforts to expand the method by which the state distributes at-risk funding to include other indicators in addition to poverty. The problem is in getting the funds to the districts in an efficient way.

“When,” Desetti said, “a student is found to be failing several classes mid-semester, the student will be deemed at-risk and get services. Would a change in fund distribution allow that student to generate the funds beginning mid-semester? That is the difficulty. Use of free lunch is an efficiency standard for distribution.”

In addition, Desetti suggested that using only test scores in reading and math would allow many students to slip between the cracks:

“A reliance on test scores in reading and math would indeed identify some students in need of at-risk services. But it would not help a number of other students. As an example, consider the on grade-level pregnant teen. Dealing with pregnancy, child birth, and child rearing can put even the best of students in danger of dropping out – they would be ‘at risk.’”

Wednesday: Bilingual funding

The study recommends changing the calculation of bilingual weighting from a count of time spent with a bilingual or ESL endorsed teacher to a pure headcount. Under this recommendation, those districts not currently receiving bilingual funds for bilingual students because they have no staff members with the appropriate endorsement, would get funding for a program. But the Post Audit also recommended reducing the weighting from .393 to .1 causing a reduction in funding for those districts currently receiving dollars based on personnel. 

KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti expressed support for the headcount approach but suggested that the reduction in the weighting punished school districts with significant bilingual numbers who had been successful in recruiting or training teachers. Desetti reminded the committee of how they arrived at the new higher weighting in 2005:

“I am sure this committee recalls why the weighting was raised to its current level last year. As you reviewed data from school districts, you discovered that our weighting provided only about half of what districts were spending on these programs. With that discovery, you raised the weighting to the point that it provided the amount of money that was being spent in this area. “

Desetti concluded by asking the committee to accept the recommendation on using headcount for distributing the weighting but to reconsider the lower weighting. Said Desetti, “We agree that those areas that have bilingual students and do not have bilingual teachers should receive program funding because they do have the challenge of meeting the needs of those students. The headcount recommendation does this. We don’t think that the other school districts – many of whom have large numbers of bilingual students – should lose funding.”

Thursday: Enrollment weighting

Thursday’s discussion focused on what is probably the most controversial part of the study – low-enrollment weighting. KNEA submitted written testimony allowing superintendents of small school districts to have the Committee’s time. 

At issue is the reduction proposed in the low enrollment weighting. Many small school districts would lose money under the four scenarios in the report – three input scenarios based on class sizes of 20, 25, or 18/23 (18 in primary, 23 in other grades) and one outcomes scenario. Under the outcomes scenario, for example, 140 school districts would lose or see no increase in state funding. For this reason, the Post Audit recommended that the Legislature consider a “hold harmless” provision under which no school district would lose money. In written testimony, KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti told the Committee, “Given that costs continue to rise – particularly in the areas of insurance, fuel, and utilities – we believe that a “hold harmless” provision is not ‘harmless.’”

Desetti concluded by saying, “Ensuring that all schools – large and small – are able to maintain and improve the education program for students is essential for the good of those students, the health of their communities, and the economic well-being of our state.”

Next week…

Continuing in the study mode, the Committee will take up the regional cost index and transportation weighting next week.

Senator Jim Barnett (R-Emporia) has introduced the first school finance bill of the session. It is just a conceptual bill as of this time and we will review it carefully when it is written. Over four years the bill would phase in an increase in at-risk weighting from the current .193 to .347 in four steps, increase the bilingual weighting from the current .395 to .482 in one step, and increase base state aid from the current $4,257 to $4,618 in four steps. The bill is an increase of $50 million in year one, $75 million in year two, and $100 million each in years three and four. The Legislative Post Audit cost study indicates that $399 million in new funding is needed now.

Click here to review our School Finance in Focus document for the Barnett Plan.

A record number of KNEA political activists came in for the annual Blitz All Legislators Early (BALE) event, making their presence known under the dome.

KNEA members from every corner of Kansas spent two days in Topeka – Sunday for a briefing by KNEA lobbyists Mark Desetti and Terry Forsyth and Monday for meetings with their legislators. Nearly 60 people participated in the event. Many were on hand in the Senate Education Committee to hear Desetti share the KNEA legislative agenda and to comment on the Legislative Post Audit cost study.

Click here to read the 2006 KNEA Legislative Agenda.

BALE was especially sweet this year as it has faced last minute cancellations for several years due to inclement weather and the funeral of a long-time state legislator. This year marked no snow or tragedy.

Kansas Schools for the Deaf and Blind get a budget hearing; request funding to fulfill salary promise

The House Education Budget Subcommittee listened to a presentation by William Daugherty, Superintendent of the School for the Blind, and Robert Maile, Superintendent of the School for the Deaf. Unlike other schools in the K-12 education system, these two institutions are treated as separate agencies under the State Department of Education. They must ask for their budget allocation separately and are not part of the school finance formula.

Of particular concern to KNEA is the fact that teacher salaries at these schools have fallen behind their surrounding school districts, making them far less competitive in attracting personnel. Representative Arlen Siegfreid (R-Olathe) sponsored legislation to ensure that their salaries matched those of the Olathe School District. The appropriation for the 2005-06 school year was based on an estimate of the raise Olathe teachers might get. In reality, Olathe settled for a much better raise and, as a result, the schools for the deaf and blind cannot match the Olathe salaries as required.

To make up the difference, the Kansas State School for the Deaf (KSSD) is asking for a supplemental appropriation for 2006 of $229,575 and an additional $232,097 for 2007. The Kansas State School for the Blind (KSSB) is asking for a supplemental appropriation for 2006 of $67,145 and an additional $150,071 for 2007. In the case of the KSSB, if the supplemental appropriation for 2006 is granted, the $150,071 can be reduced by that amount.

The Committee plans to work budgets beginning next week.

Controversial bills begin getting hearings this week

House Fed and State Committee hears HB 2615, the repeal of in-state tuition for immigrant children

The House Federal and State Affairs Committee met to hear House Bill 2615 which repeals a law granting in-state tuition rates to the children of undocumented workers who have attended a Kansas high school for at least three years, graduated from a Kansas high school or earned a GED in Kansas, and signed an affidavit promising to pursue legal status in the United States.

The law granting in-state tuition is only two years old. Anti-immigrant groups challenged the law in federal court last year but their lawsuit was dismissed.

House Bill 2615 was proposed by Representative Becky Hutchins (R-Holton) who spoke in favor of the bill. Joining her was Kris Kobach, the one-time congressional candidate and Missouri law school professor who unsuccessfully carried the challenge in federal court. Three other citizens spoke in favor of the repeal.

Those asking that the committee reject HB 2165 included Kansas NEA, the Board of Regents, the Kansas Hispanic and Latino Affairs Commission, Kansas League of Women Voters, Kansas Association of School Boards, the Kansas Catholic Conference, El Centro, Kansas United Methodist Women, the American GI Forum, several students, an immigration attorney, an ESL teacher, USD 259 (Wichita), Kansas Families United for Public Education, and the owner of a tax preparation service in Wichita.

KNEA was represented by lobbyist Mark Desetti, who told the committee:

“These children did not come here consciously violating our immigration laws. They came with their parents. They attended our schools. They struggled and succeeded in learning English. They worked hard to get the kind of grades needed to enter our universities. They deserve a chance to get a post secondary education. These young people are committed to life in this great nation. Passage of HB 2615 will deny these young people the chance to pursue their dreams and to live that life well. We urge you to continue to reward these high achieving, hard working students for a job well done. It’s not about how their parents came here; it’s about what those kids did once they got here.”

The hearing took all the time allotted. The committee will take up the bill at some later date.

Senate Fed and State Committee hears SB 418, the concealed carry weapons bill

The Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee held a hearing on Senate Bill 418, the concealed carry firearms bill proposed by Senator Phil Journey (R-Wichita). A similar bill passed in 1997 and was vetoed by Governor Bill Graves; the 2004 version was vetoed by Governor Kathleen Sebelius.

As written, the bill prohibits license holders from carrying their weapons in school buildings and at athletic events off campus but it allows firearms at other school activities off campus. A license holder could carry a loaded firearm on a school fieldtrip or to a school band concert or debate tournament held off campus. KNEA testified that, while we had no organizational position on concealed carry per se, we did believe that children must be protected and asked the committee to amend the bill by prohibiting firearms at all school activities off campus (there is an exception in the bill for schools that have rifle teams).

In his testimony lobbyist Mark Desetti told the committee, “While it (the bill) prohibits the carrying of firearms at school athletic events or into school facilities, we believe these two exceptions are too limiting. For example, in places where school bands and orchestras perform in community centers or performing arts centers, would firearms be allowed if not otherwise posted? Would firearms be prohibited on school field trips? These would be school activities but not athletic activities. Firearms must not be allowed near any school function or activity regardless of where that activity might be.”

The Kansas Association of School Boards joined Kansas NEA in asking that a prohibition on carrying concealed weapons to any school, community college, college, or university sponsored activity be added to the bill.

The bill will be worked next week.

Curriculum standard review bill moves out of committee

The Senate Education Committee amended Senate Bill 329 and passed it on to the full Senate for consideration. This bill would change the cycle for curriculum standards review from three years to seven years. KNEA had expressed support for the extension of time but objected to an additional change in the statute that would have removed the words “equal to the best standards” from the description of Kansas standards. In an amendment, the committee changed the language to reflect a requirement for “high academic standards.”

With that amendment accepted, the bill was passed out of committee and will be sent to the full Senate.

This week’s links:

First finance plan of the session In Focus: Senator Jim Barnett (R-Emporia) has introduced a school finance bill. Read our School Finance In Focus summary. Click here.

 

KNEA testimony before the House Select Committee on School Finance: What KNEA is saying to the Legislature.

 

House School Finance Committee continues Post Audit discussion

For three days this week, the House Select Committee on School Finance reviewed and heard testimony on portions of the Legislative Post Audit Cost Study.

Tuesday: At-risk funding

The study recommends a new weighting of .484, up from the current .193. In addition, they recommend an additional weighting of .242 for four school districts which have a high density of students living in poverty. Research they reviewed indicated that where poverty is highly concentrated, schools face additional challenges in moving students to high levels of achievement. Under the LPA recommendation, all schools would see a dramatic increase in at-risk funds while the Kansas City, Turner, Wichita, and Topeka school districts would receive the  additional “urban poverty weight.”

KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti expressed support for the higher weightings but also discussed other related issues being discussed in the capitol. There continues to be pressure to change the distribution of at-risk funds from the number of free-lunch students in a district to some other at-risk indicator. For example, a proposal this year would distribute the at-risk weighting based on the number of children below proficient in math or reading on a standardized test.

KNEA has supported legislative efforts to expand the method by which the state distributes at-risk funding to include other indicators in addition to poverty. The problem is in getting the funds to the districts in an efficient way.

“When,” Desetti said, “a student is found to be failing several classes mid-semester, the student will be deemed at-risk and get services. Would a change in fund distribution allow that student to generate the funds beginning mid-semester? That is the difficulty. Use of free lunch is an efficiency standard for distribution.”

In addition, Desetti suggested that using only test scores in reading and math would allow many students to slip between the cracks:

“A reliance on test scores in reading and math would indeed identify some students in need of at-risk services. But it would not help a number of other students. As an example, consider the on grade-level pregnant teen. Dealing with pregnancy, child birth, and child rearing can put even the best of students in danger of dropping out – they would be ‘at risk.’”

Wednesday: Bilingual funding

The study recommends changing the calculation of bilingual weighting from a count of time spent with a bilingual or ESL endorsed teacher to a pure headcount. Under this recommendation, those districts not currently receiving bilingual funds for bilingual students because they have no staff members with the appropriate endorsement, would get funding for a program. But the Post Audit also recommended reducing the weighting from .393 to .1 causing a reduction in funding for those districts currently receiving dollars based on personnel. 

KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti expressed support for the headcount approach but suggested that the reduction in the weighting punished school districts with significant bilingual numbers who had been successful in recruiting or training teachers. Desetti reminded the committee of how they arrived at the new higher weighting in 2005:

“I am sure this committee recalls why the weighting was raised to its current level last year. As you reviewed data from school districts, you discovered that our weighting provided only about half of what districts were spending on these programs. With that discovery, you raised the weighting to the point that it provided the amount of money that was being spent in this area. “

Desetti concluded by asking the committee to accept the recommendation on using headcount for distributing the weighting but to reconsider the lower weighting. Said Desetti, “We agree that those areas that have bilingual students and do not have bilingual teachers should receive program funding because they do have the challenge of meeting the needs of those students. The headcount recommendation does this. We don’t think that the other school districts – many of whom have large numbers of bilingual students – should lose funding.”

Thursday: Enrollment weighting

Thursday’s discussion focused on what is probably the most controversial part of the study – low-enrollment weighting. KNEA submitted written testimony allowing superintendents of small school districts to have the Committee’s time. 

At issue is the reduction proposed in the low enrollment weighting. Many small school districts would lose money under the four scenarios in the report – three input scenarios based on class sizes of 20, 25, or 18/23 (18 in primary, 23 in other grades) and one outcomes scenario. Under the outcomes scenario, for example, 140 school districts would lose or see no increase in state funding. For this reason, the Post Audit recommended that the Legislature consider a “hold harmless” provision under which no school district would lose money. In written testimony, KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti told the Committee, “Given that costs continue to rise – particularly in the areas of insurance, fuel, and utilities – we believe that a “hold harmless” provision is not ‘harmless.’”

Desetti concluded by saying, “Ensuring that all schools – large and small – are able to maintain and improve the education program for students is essential for the good of those students, the health of their communities, and the economic well-being of our state.”

Next week…

Continuing in the study mode, the Committee will take up the regional cost index and transportation weighting next week.

Senator Jim Barnett (R-Emporia) has introduced the first school finance bill of the session. It is just a conceptual bill as of this time and we will review it carefully when it is written. Over four years the bill would phase in an increase in at-risk weighting from the current .193 to .347 in four steps, increase the bilingual weighting from the current .395 to .482 in one step, and increase base state aid from the current $4,257 to $4,618 in four steps. The bill is an increase of $50 million in year one, $75 million in year two, and $100 million each in years three and four. The Legislative Post Audit cost study indicates that $399 million in new funding is needed now.

Click here to review our School Finance in Focus document for the Barnett Plan.

A record number of KNEA political activists came in for the annual Blitz All Legislators Early (BALE) event, making their presence known under the dome.

KNEA members from every corner of Kansas spent two days in Topeka – Sunday for a briefing by KNEA lobbyists Mark Desetti and Terry Forsyth and Monday for meetings with their legislators. Nearly 60 people participated in the event. Many were on hand in the Senate Education Committee to hear Desetti share the KNEA legislative agenda and to comment on the Legislative Post Audit cost study.

Click here to read the 2006 KNEA Legislative Agenda.

BALE was especially sweet this year as it has faced last minute cancellations for several years due to inclement weather and the funeral of a long-time state legislator. This year marked no snow or tragedy.

Kansas Schools for the Deaf and Blind get a budget hearing; request funding to fulfill salary promise

The House Education Budget Subcommittee listened to a presentation by William Daugherty, Superintendent of the School for the Blind, and Robert Maile, Superintendent of the School for the Deaf. Unlike other schools in the K-12 education system, these two institutions are treated as separate agencies under the State Department of Education. They must ask for their budget allocation separately and are not part of the school finance formula.

Of particular concern to KNEA is the fact that teacher salaries at these schools have fallen behind their surrounding school districts, making them far less competitive in attracting personnel. Representative Arlen Siegfreid (R-Olathe) sponsored legislation to ensure that their salaries matched those of the Olathe School District. The appropriation for the 2005-06 school year was based on an estimate of the raise Olathe teachers might get. In reality, Olathe settled for a much better raise and, as a result, the schools for the deaf and blind cannot match the Olathe salaries as required.

To make up the difference, the Kansas State School for the Deaf (KSSD) is asking for a supplemental appropriation for 2006 of $229,575 and an additional $232,097 for 2007. The Kansas State School for the Blind (KSSB) is asking for a supplemental appropriation for 2006 of $67,145 and an additional $150,071 for 2007. In the case of the KSSB, if the supplemental appropriation for 2006 is granted, the $150,071 can be reduced by that amount.

The Committee plans to work budgets beginning next week.

Controversial bills begin getting hearings this week

House Fed and State Committee hears HB 2615, the repeal of in-state tuition for immigrant children

The House Federal and State Affairs Committee met to hear House Bill 2615 which repeals a law granting in-state tuition rates to the children of undocumented workers who have attended a Kansas high school for at least three years, graduated from a Kansas high school or earned a GED in Kansas, and signed an affidavit promising to pursue legal status in the United States.

The law granting in-state tuition is only two years old. Anti-immigrant groups challenged the law in federal court last year but their lawsuit was dismissed.

House Bill 2615 was proposed by Representative Becky Hutchins (R-Holton) who spoke in favor of the bill. Joining her was Kris Kobach, the one-time congressional candidate and Missouri law school professor who unsuccessfully carried the challenge in federal court. Three other citizens spoke in favor of the repeal.

Those asking that the committee reject HB 2165 included Kansas NEA, the Board of Regents, the Kansas Hispanic and Latino Affairs Commission, Kansas League of Women Voters, Kansas Association of School Boards, the Kansas Catholic Conference, El Centro, Kansas United Methodist Women, the American GI Forum, several students, an immigration attorney, an ESL teacher, USD 259 (Wichita), Kansas Families United for Public Education, and the owner of a tax preparation service in Wichita.

KNEA was represented by lobbyist Mark Desetti, who told the committee:

“These children did not come here consciously violating our immigration laws. They came with their parents. They attended our schools. They struggled and succeeded in learning English. They worked hard to get the kind of grades needed to enter our universities. They deserve a chance to get a post secondary education. These young people are committed to life in this great nation. Passage of HB 2615 will deny these young people the chance to pursue their dreams and to live that life well. We urge you to continue to reward these high achieving, hard working students for a job well done. It’s not about how their parents came here; it’s about what those kids did once they got here.”

The hearing took all the time allotted. The committee will take up the bill at some later date.

Senate Fed and State Committee hears SB 418, the concealed carry weapons bill

The Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee held a hearing on Senate Bill 418, the concealed carry firearms bill proposed by Senator Phil Journey (R-Wichita). A similar bill passed in 1997 and was vetoed by Governor Bill Graves; the 2004 version was vetoed by Governor Kathleen Sebelius.

As written, the bill prohibits license holders from carrying their weapons in school buildings and at athletic events off campus but it allows firearms at other school activities off campus. A license holder could carry a loaded firearm on a school fieldtrip or to a school band concert or debate tournament held off campus. KNEA testified that, while we had no organizational position on concealed carry per se, we did believe that children must be protected and asked the committee to amend the bill by prohibiting firearms at all school activities off campus (there is an exception in the bill for schools that have rifle teams).

In his testimony lobbyist Mark Desetti told the committee, “While it (the bill) prohibits the carrying of firearms at school athletic events or into school facilities, we believe these two exceptions are too limiting. For example, in places where school bands and orchestras perform in community centers or performing arts centers, would firearms be allowed if not otherwise posted? Would firearms be prohibited on school field trips? These would be school activities but not athletic activities. Firearms must not be allowed near any school function or activity regardless of where that activity might be.”

The Kansas Association of School Boards joined Kansas NEA in asking that a prohibition on carrying concealed weapons to any school, community college, college, or university sponsored activity be added to the bill.

The bill will be worked next week.

Curriculum standard review bill moves out of committee

The Senate Education Committee amended Senate Bill 329 and passed it on to the full Senate for consideration. This bill would change the cycle for curriculum standards review from three years to seven years. KNEA had expressed support for the extension of time but objected to an additional change in the statute that would have removed the words “equal to the best standards” from the description of Kansas standards. In an amendment, the committee changed the language to reflect a requirement for “high academic standards.”

With that amendment accepted, the bill was passed out of committee and will be sent to the full Senate.

This week’s links:

The Legislative Education Planning Committee Report: 20 pages of discussion and recommendations from the joint House/Senate Committee that makes legislative recommendations to the regular education committees. Click here.

The Kansas Alliance for Education: The Kansas Alliance for Education (KAE) is a nonpartisan grassroots organization formed in 2005 for the purpose of promoting the election of candidates to the Kansas State Board of Education who support quality education for all Kansas children. Cl