Jim Karleskint
The 2023 Kansas Legislative session has started. Governor Kelly and members of the Kansas
House of Representatives were sworn in on Monday, January 9th . There were a couple of new
members to the Senate that were also sworn in on Monday.
There hasn’t been a great deal that has taken place this week. The Governor was to deliver her
State of the State address on Tuesday. However, the address was postponed till next week as she
tested positive for Covid-19. She had cold like symptoms. She returned to work on Friday as it
was determined that the test was a false positive. The State of the State address will be Tuesday,
January 24th.
There isn’t a great deal to report this week that impacts education. The education committees in
the House and Senate have met. Work was around organization for the new session and hearing
reports from legislative staff and the State Department of Education representatives. More
reports are scheduled to be heard next week.
The primary thing this week is the Governor’s budget. On Thursday Budget Director Adam
Proffitt presented the budget to the legislature. The budget is $24.1 billion for the fiscal year. It
includes more than $500 million in tax cuts, an across the board pay raise for state employees,
and a plan to expand Medicaid.
I will share with you the points from the budget as it pertains to K-12 Education. Keep in mind
this is a summary. There are points I may be leaving out.
The Governor’s budget fully funds education as dictated by the Gannon ruling. It
includes continuing to provide funding adjustments for the CPI. This sets the BASE at
$5,103 for FY 2024 and $5,421 for FY 2025.
The Governor placed in her budget a path to fully fund special education excess costs at
92% over a 5-year period. For FY 2024 the additional amount going to special education
would be $72.3.
Funding for High-Density At-Risk Weighting. It is set to expire after FY 2024, she is also
recommending to extend the statutory sunset on the weighting.
$3 million for the expansion of the Mental Health Intervention Teams Program.
$5 million for the Safe and Secure Grant Program.
$1 million enhancement for the Mentor Teacher Program. This will fully fund the
program.
Funding for capital improvements and resource officers at both the Kansas School for the
Blind and the Kansas School for the Deaf.
The Governor’s budget also will alter capital improvement aid to become a demand
transfer rather than a revenue transfer. This ends an accounting maneuver that was implemented to reduce ending balance requirements. This does not require any new funding.
Keep in mind this is a proposed budget and must go through the legislative branch. However, the
good news is a path to fully fund the 92% excess costs of special education. The budget will face
challenges. I feel it is better to have things listed in the budget as compared to try to place items
in the budget after it has been proposed by the Governor.
Please let me know if you have questions. The date of February 8 th has been selected as the day
for SQE members to visit the Capital and meet legislators. We will start at 8AM that day. You
will have an opportunity to meet and greet legislators as they enter the Capital. There will be
coffee and donuts available on the basement floor.
