The Kansas House K-12 Education Budget committee rejected proposals meant to strengthen the accountability and inclusivity of the tax credit scholarship program. KASB’s Scott Rothschild tweeted about if from the meeting. Text from his Twitter thread is below.

From KASB’s Scott Rothschild on Twitter:

“Last week, H K-12 recommended approval of HB 2068, which greatly expands a program of tax credits to send students to private schools. All amendments were rejected.

One amendment would have required schools benefiting from tax credits to not discriminate in admission, retention or expulsion of a qualified student on basis of race, color, disability, national origin, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.

Another unsuccessful amendment would have required that qualifying schools be accredited by the State Board of Education. All public schools in Kansas are accredited. Without being state accredited, schools do not report the same assessment information.

Since the program reduces state general revenue dollars, one amendment that was defeated would have required that special education be fully funded before the $10M cap on the tax credit program could be increased.

The amendments that were rejected were aimed at trying to level requirements for how students are treated between private schools receiving public assistance and public schools.

This difference in how students are treated and accountability of schools — the creation of a two-tier education system — is a major reason education groups, including KASB, oppose HB 2068 and the identical SB 61.

HB 2068 and SB 61 are headed to the House and Senate floors. Please contact your legislators and tell them that these bills are not in the interest of all students and will hurt Kansas.

Scott Rothschild, @srothschild1, Twitter, February 8, 2021.

https://twitter.com/srothsc…/status/1358791638659850240…

Originally posted to Facebook 2/8/2021.