Jim Karleskint
jimkarleskint@yahoo.com
We have nearly reached the half-way point of the legislative session. This coming week the legislature reaches “Turnaround”, which basically means we are at halftime. The legislative rules are that most bills be passed by one house of the legislature so the bill can then be sent to the other house for consideration. There are also rules that states some committees are what are considered “exempt” which allows for exceptions to the rule of passing a bill by “Turnaround”. The exempt committees are Ways and Means, Taxation, and Federal & State Affairs in the Senate. Appropriations, Taxation, and Federal & State Affairs in the House.
The past week saw action that pertains to Special Education in the House. I know most of you are aware the Federal Government is not living up to the promise they made in the 1990’s to pay for 40% of special education costs. When the Individuals with Disabilities Act was passed the 40% amount was set. Currently the Feds are pay approximately 13%, if they were pay the 40% the state would receive an additional $330 million toward sped costs. The past week saw the House pass a resolution to urge the US Congress to fully fund the amount that was originally promised when I.D.E.A. was passed. The resolution will now go the Senate for consideration. (Don’t hold your breath the Feds will come up with the money.) The House didn’t stop at the Resolution regarding special education and the Feds. The House also passed a bill that would establish a Special Education Task Force. The intent of the task force would be to bring together experts and research how sped is currently being funded and evaluate what could be done differently. (Concern here is this is kicking the can down the road and not move to give additional funding toward the 92% which is in the Governor’s budget, stay tuned).
We saw several bills pass out of committees and will probably be considered this week when the House and Senate spend Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in session each day. There will be no committee meetings. There will be many additional bills worked in committees on Monday and Tuesday in preparation for Turnaround deadline.
What to expect in Week 7
With just two days of committee work this week there will be fewer bills heard. They include: Monday-February 19th
House Education-HB 2223-Removing the sunset for the high-density at-risk student weighting under the Kansas school equity and enhancement act.
House Child Welfare & Foster Care- HB 2407 Creating conditions for the administration of certain tests, questionnaires, surveys, and eliminating the parental opt-in requirements for opt-out requirements.
House K-12 Education Budget Committee-HB 2382-Establishing the school district board of education member free speech and transparency act. (The is a very challenging bill that will have dramatic impact on the way Board of Education meetings are conducted).
The remainder of Monday & Tuesday’s committee work will be spent working on bills that have been previously heard.
Please let me know if you have questions, have a good week.
