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Kansas NEA works with policy-makers to provide resources for quality public schools, to strengthen the teaching profession and to improve the well-being of our members.
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!
Legislative Week in Review
May 3, 2007
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 iss
