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State underfunds special education by $173 million; Kansas districts transferring millions to cover state shortfall

“The Legislature’s own research department said that in the current fiscal year, schools are being shorted $173 million from covering the 92% of statewide excess costs as the law calls for. That was also the figure cited by the Kansas State Department of Education. SPED services are mandatory, and the federal government and Kansas legislature need to fund it. Underfunding SPED hurts all students. #fullyfundsped Districts are sharing information on SPED costs. Click on the link below to see the real impact of special education funding and shortfalls for multiple districts in the state: https://www.facebook.com/reel/787833249837327 Use the search...
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Lawrence public schools transfers $8.4 million to cover state special education shortfall

“The Legislature’s own research department said that in the current fiscal year, schools are being shorted $173 million from covering the 92% of statewide excess costs as the law calls for. SPED services are mandatory, and the federal government and Kansas legislature need to fund it. Underfunding SPED hurts all students. Lawrence public schools spent $25.6 million last year on special education; they had to transfer $8.4 million dollars to cover the state shortfall for special education. See more information below....
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Kansas Supreme Court gives up jurisdiction of school funding case

“The Kansas Supreme Court late Tuesday agreed to give up oversight of the landmark school funding case that was decided four years ago. The court ruled in favor of Attorney General Kris Kobach’s motion to give up jurisdiction of the case, saying that the state met its legal obligation to sufficiently fund schools with the final phased increases planned for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years… “Justice Eric Rosen dissented in the ruling, given the history of school funding. He would have denied the state’s motion and ruled for the court to keep jurisdiction… “‘The Kansas legislature has...
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Testimony in favor of new special ed task force

We testified in the K-12 Education Budget Committee hearing yesterday on a bill (HB 2594) to create a new task force to study education funding in preparation for the sunset of the current formula in 2027 and to abolish the current special education task force. We and other conferees opposed abolishing the SPED task force and supported adding other people with more expertise in school finance and different perspectives. Rep. Estes asked a follow up question bristling at the implication that the legislators, some of whom are former teachers, school board members and administrators lack expertise. We think...
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