This story is out of Johnson County, but applies to districts across the state. Underfunding SPED is real and hurts all students.
“In their letter, the superintendents acknowledged that last year the Legislature moved closer to the statutory requirement. Still, the three school districts said they’d transferred a combined $230.3 million out of general fund accounts to cover special education funding shortfalls in the past three school years alone…
“Additionally, the school districts called out how the Legislature was “stripping” funds from other programs tied to public education, including Career and Technical Education student transportation and initiatives that support educators.
“The superintendents called it “a direct hit to teacher quality, recruitment and retention” in an era when that’s increasingly been an issue already.
“’These are real dollars, real impacts on students, teachers and classrooms,’ the superintendents wrote…
“‘Unfortunately, HB 2007 halts that progress by failing to provide adequate new SPED funding for the 2025-26 school year—leaving schools with growing financial obligations and little to no additional support,’ they wrote. ‘This failure to adequately increase SPED funding forces our districts to make damaging choices: we must divert even more dollars away from general operations, core classroom instruction, and vital student programs to fulfill the obligation left by the unfulfilled commitment and budget shortfall…’
“Shawnee Mission had to transfer out a combined $60 million and Blue Valley had to transfer out a combined $67.9 million in those three academic years. Olathe, the largest district in Johnson County and the second largest in the state of Kansas, has spent $102.4 million from its general fund on special education since the 2022-23 school year.
“If the appropriation bill becomes law, then those transfers will have to continue, the superintendents warned.
Originally posted to Facebook 3/20/25.