We survived another #kslegafterdark and it went better than they usually do! We know we had a lot of team members in the Capitol and watching online into the early hours of Saturday. The legislature is on break until they come back for the veto session April 25. The education budget/education conference committee passed out a report that included $74 million in new SPED funding and deleted the provision to count LOB funding as state aid, which was the biggest concern for education advocates. We don’t love everything in the bill, but it is much better than what came out of the K-12 Eductation Budget Committee a couple weeks ago. They didn’t have time to get it to the floor, but we expect it to pass when they return.

Here’s a summary of key changes/provisions.

*$74 million new SPED funding which becomes permanent due to Maintenance of Effort. (This was important!)

*No counting LOB money as state aid. (This was important!)

*LOB funds derived from state aid for SPED has to be spent on SPED. (We think this is contrary to legislative intent and overreach but in reality districts are spending more local money than that so it doesn’t really matter.)

*At risk accountability program improved to be a 2-year pilot program for 10 districts in which the problems can be worked out. Reporting will be related to the functioning of the program and not academic performance and to KSDE and the legislature and not online. (This is an improvement.)

*Enhancements for professional development and teacher mentorship totalling about $3.2 have been removed. (We can live with this.)

*Exempting property not funded by state aid from the right of first refusal for the legislature to purchase has been removed due to equity concerns. (We can live with this but still think the legislature shouldn’t be buying buildings at all, should have to pay fair market value which they rejected in committee, and don’t have claim to properties entirely funded by local dollars but we understand equity issues.)

*The bill still abolishes the SPED task force and creates a political education funding task force. (We don’t like this provision but are stuck with it.)

*They made a commitment to move teachers to Tier 2 of KPERS but couldn’t put that in this bill. (It appears they will address this as well as KPERS for other educators in the interim. We support this.)

*There are no voucher expansions of any type in this bill or any others.

The tax situation is still a little unclear but they seem to be moving towards a reasonable bill that won’t jeopardize future funding to public education and other essential state services. The legislature passed a bill, but we wait to see if Governor Kelly vetoes it.

Thank you to everyone who contacted their legislators, talked to their friends, family and neighbors about education issues, watched committee hearings and floor debate, read and interacted with posts on this page and others. Please attend events with your legislators over the next few weeks and be sure to thank those who cast some hard votes in support of education and make sure those who voted against your schools hear from you as well. And get ready to engage in elections this summer and fall to protect public education supporters and get them some additional allies for 2025.

Originally posted on Facebook on April 6, 2024.