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April 3, 2008

9:40 pm

Conference Committee work proceeding

We have been spending lots of time waiting for conference committee meetings and hoping to get all the issues worked out so the session can end quickly.

At the moment, it looks like education may almost be done but the session may not end tomorrow as hoped.

First, the conference committee

There have been a variety of bills up for discussion in the education conference committee. Some have been agreed to and adopted by the first house but a few are still outstanding. Here is what’s what at this time:

ADOPTED BY THE HOUSE 110-11: The Kansas Academy of Math and Science (KAMS), SB 404. KAMS will get base state aid per pupil for each Kansas resident in attendance with that money being transferred from the student’s home district. Students from other states and international students will be granted admission at their own expense but three-fourths of all students must be Kansas residents. This report now goes to the Senate for adoption.

ADOPTED BY THE HOUSE 120-0: The Military Service Scholarship bill, SB 437, includes expanded scholarships for soldiers who served at least 90 days in Iraq of Afghanistan as well as allowing certain community colleges to award ROTC scholarships. An amendment by Paul Davis (D-Lawrence) in the House to require the Board of Regents, in collaboration with public postsecondary educational institutions, to implement policies to ensure faculty members consider least costly practices in assigning textbooks, was stripped out. This report now goes to the Senate for adoption.

ADOPTED BY THE HOUSE 120-0: The clean-up bill to the school safety and security act, SB 470, was amended very slightly – it was a technical amendment. But then two other bills were added. Senators requested that the House agree to add in SB 492, the bill lifting the lifetime teaching license ban from persons convicted of a misdemeanor DUI and the Brownlee obscenity amendment. House members refused the obscenity language since the committee had rejected it and an attempt to raise the issue on the House floor was defeated. Senators than asked to amend in SB 420, the repeal of one section of the 1951 continuing contract law providing it was amended by language requested by KNEA. The House agreed. This report now goes to the Senate for adoption.

AGREED TO: The virtual schools bill, SB 669. Under the agreement, virtual schools will get 105% of BSAPP and any money related to non-proficient at-risk weighting providing the virtual school has an approved at-risk program. The non-proficient at-risk weighting for virtual school students will be .25 – higher than non-proficient at-risk in traditional “brick and mortar” schools but lower than regular poverty at-risk. Students from districts that do not have AP classes can receive an 8% weighting per semester if they take AP classes from a virtual school. The additional weighting would go to the virtual school. Qualifying districts would have to meet minimum geographic area and student population requirements.

Other bills were added in to SB 669. These bills were the Disaster funding bill for Greensburg and certain sections of southeast Kansas as well as support of Emporia and several surrounding school districts due to the Tyson plant closing and SB 401, the bill funding education services for students in psychiatric residential treatment facilities.

The conference committee report is being drafted overnight and will likely be voted on in the House tomorrow morning.

NOT QUITE AGREED TO YET (BUT ALMOST): Senate Bills 531 and 620, the fourth year school funding bills. These bills contain various provisions beyond the $59 increase in BSAPP for the 2009-10 school year. At issue in the discussions are:

• Medicaid state replacement aid,
• Consolidation incentives,
• Compulsory attendance for dyslexic students, and
• A task force to study special education funding.

The last offer from the Senators included the following:

• Medicaid state replacement aid changes would be effective in the current school year, based on a headcount of Medicaid students, and would sunset in three years. $9 million would be distributed in this manner. (House position is 2 year sunset and $12 million)
• The consolidation incentives would be basically as proposed by the House with an amendment made by Rep. Clay Aurand (R-Courtland) and Sen. Janis Lee (D-Kensington) that would provide a longer relief period for very small school districts that chose to consolidate. (Same as House position)
• Districts considering consolidation would be permitted to use a dual majority vote instead of the current combined majority in making the final decision to consolidate. In this way, a large district could not force an unwilling community into the consolidation. (Same as House position)
• Dyslexic students could be excused from school for 30 minutes at the beginning or end of the school day to receive alternative instructional services. (House position is no time limit)
• The special education task force would have 11 members. Three would be appointed by United School Administrators (one for each of three enrollment categories), three appointed by KASB (one for each of three enrollment categories), one appointed by KNEA, and four by House and Senate Leadership. (Same as House position)

In addition, Senators asked to include the high density “linear transition” compromise. This is not a linear transition but is based on current declining enrollment provisions under which a district can choose to use current year, prior year, or a three year average enrollment numbers in determining funding. (Not discussed before; House has not taken a position on this)

We think this will all be put into SB 531. The Senate offer is very close to the last House positions so this could be wrapped up with one more meeting.

The last conference committee wrapped up about 7:45 pm. The House went back on the floor to debate the budget conference committee report. The Senate adjourned until 8:30 am tomorrow.

By 8:30, it was decided that there would not be another conference committee tonight. The House is likely to be on the floor for some time. We anticipate the next conference committee to be at noon tomorrow.

Prognosis for ending?

While most legislators had been hoping to wrap things up tomorrow (Friday), rumor has it that there are not enough votes to pass the budget in the House. If that happens it is very likely that the session will continue on Saturday.

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