11:00 AM meeting

The Conference Committee on House Sub for SB 16 started meeting this morning at 11:00. Conferees represent the Senate Select Committee on School Finance and the House K-12 Budget Committee. Members of the Conference Committee are Senators Molly Baumgardner (R-Louisburg), Jim Denning (R-Overland Park), and Anthony Hensley (D-Topeka) and Representatives Kristey Williams (R-Augusta), Kyle Hoffman (R-Coldwater), and Valdenia Winn (D-Kansas City).

The first meeting was devoted to reviewing the Senate position on school finance – essentially, the Governor’s package to address Gannon increasing the current school finance formula by $90 million per year and making no policy changes to the formula (SB 142) and the House position on education policy contained in House Sub for SB 16 and having no funding for schools at all.

Interestingly, they are also discussion House Sub for HB 2395, the Williams/Landwehr school finance bill that repeals the last two years of the current school finance plan as well as the requirement to fund a CPI adjustment into the future. Williams continues to refer to this as the “House position” even though it is not. The House has not passed this bill as they can’t get 63 votes for it on the floor. Under pressure, Williams admitted that it was the House Committee’s position.

For your information, according to the joint rules of the House and Senate, “Only subject matters which are or have been included in the bill or concurrent resolution in conference or in bills or concurrent resolutions which have been passed or adopted in either one or both houses during the current biennium of the legislature may be included in the report of the conference committee on any bill or concurrent resolution.”


Essentially, that means that items in HB 2395 that are not in SB 16 or SB 142 may not be included in the conference committee report because those items have not “been passed or adopted in either one or both houses.”

After a presentation on the issues by staff, questions from Senators were answered. Baumgardner asked about the House positions on out-of-state students (taking them back to full funding), bilingual education (cutting off students who need additional time to master English), the required study of graduation requirements with an eye toward allowing financial literacy and computer science to count as math and science credits, and the formation of an IT commission.

Hensley asked why the House wanted to repeal the provision calling for reimbursement of 92% of the excess costs of special education. Other questions focused on changes to transportation, the proposed bullying hotline, and bond caps.

1:00 PM meeting

The Committee reconvened at 1:00 when the Senate made an initial offer to the House. The Senate offer is to:

  • Accept the House position in SB 16 on ACT and ACT workkeys requiring the KSBOE to provide ACT exams and 3 workkeys assessments for students in grades 11 and 12, and pre-ACT exams for students in grade 9 for school year 19-20 and beyond.
  • Accept the House position in SB 16 to replace the LPA audit on the cost of providing educational opportunities in FY 21 with an LPA audit on the unencumbered cash balances held by school districts.
  • Accept the House position in SB 16 on transfers from the state general fund to the capital improvement fund for fiscal years 20, 21, and 22.

The Senate asked the House to give consideration to the Senate position on evidence-based at-risk programs. The Senate is holding all their other positions including the funding response to the Gannon decision.

3:30 PM meeting

In a quick meeting, the House agreed to take the Senate positions on the ACT, the LPA audit, and the capital improvement transfers (which were the actual House positions originally).

The meeting then devolved into a debate over funding and approaches to funding with Sen. Baumgardner explaining that the Senate position was that of the State Board of Education and the Governor and would likely satisfy the Court’s Gannon ruling and Williams arguing that the legislature should be targeting funds and controlling how they can be spent because, according to her, schools are getting worse, not better.

The meeting had to end by 4:00 since the Appropriations/Ways & Means conference committee had the room reserved for their meeting.

They will meet again tomorrow morning at 9:00.