Focus on fully funding special education, not diverting taxpayer dollars to private schools with no oversight.
It’s turnaround week in the legislature. All bills (with some exceptions) must be passed out of their originating chamber by the end of day on Thursday in order to continue on through the legislative process.
Bills passed in the House will continue on to the Senate and vice versa.
Fair warning
You will likely hear from me multiple times this week asking you to reach out to legislators, as we won’t know exactly which day certain bills will be voted on until they hit the House or Senate calendar the night before.
ASAP — Emails needed for special education funding and voucher bills
We need to send two emails for bills that are scheduled for votes sometime on Tuesday.
Please spread the word and ask friends to send emails too. We need legislators to know that many Kansans are watching their votes this week.
The graphic below from Claire Reagan, Olathe School Board Member, provides a high level overview of what’s happening in the Kansas legislature in regards to public education right now.
Before sending emails…
Find your state level (Topeka) legislators
Use ksleglookup.org/search to find the contact info (email and phone) for your state level Representative and Senator. The emails below have a pre-populated message, but you will need to add your legislator’s email address. Note which legislator each email is going to — representative or senator.
Save their information in your contacts for quick action in the future — you’ll need it!
TAKE ACTION — CONTACT LEGISLATORS
Note the TWO different emails (and calls if you have time) that need to be sent ASAP. Two of these bills are scheduled to be voted on Tuesday.
If the pre-populated emails below don’t work for you, see the copy & paste versions at the end of the newsletter.
Fully Fund Special Education — Contact your House Representative
Urge your representative to increase the funding for special education in budget bill HB 2007. There will be opportunities for this bill to be amended during debate on the floor. See the Special Education Funding Concerns section for more information on what happened with this bill last week.
Click here for a pre-populated email to send to your House Representative.
Before hitting send:
Put your House Representative’s email address in the TO field.
Note that the majority and minority leaders in the House are being copied on the email.
Add your Representative’s last name to the greeting.
If you can, please try to put the message in your own words. Some suggestions:
Customize the opening sentence — add that you are in XYZ school district, or mention you are a parent, etc.
Reword the sentiments in the pre-populated email
Use one or more of the talking points under the Special Education Funding Concerns section
Sign off with your name, city, and zip so they can see you are their constituent.
PHONE CALL INSTRUCTIONS — if you have time.
Phone calls will likely be answered by the assistant. Sample script:
Hi. My name is ___________. I am a constituent of Representative __________. I’m calling about budget bill HB 2007 to ask the representative to support increasing the funding for special education.
ADDITIONAL INFO FOR THOSE REPRESENTED BY REP. STEVEN HOWE
If you are represented by Rep. Steven Howe (R-Saline County), please see the section towards the end of this newsletter about sending him a thank you for his support for increasing special education funding. Heck, even if you aren’t represented by him, consider reaching out to him.
Email your state Senator — Vote NO on Voucher bills SB 87 & SB 75
Voucher bills undermine public school funding. Urge your Senators to vote no on these two bills. See the No Vouchers in Kansas section for more information on these bills.
Click here for a pre-populated email to send to your Senator.
Before hitting send:
Put your Senator’s email address in the TO field.
Note that the majority and minority leaders in the Senate are being copied on the email.
If you can, please try to put the message in your own words. Some suggestions:
Customize the opening sentence — add that you are in XYZ school district, or mention you are a parent, etc.
Reword the sentiments in the pre-populated email
Use one or more of the talking points under the No Vouchers in Kansas section
Sign off with your name, city, and zip so they can see you are their constituent.
If you submitted testimony opposing SB 75 or SB 87, consider attaching your testimony.
PHONE CALL INSTRUCTIONS — if you have time.
Phone calls will likely be answered by the assistant. Sample script:
Hi. My name is ___________. I am a constituent of Senator __________. I’m calling to ask the senator to vote no on voucher bills SB 75 & SB 87.
Special education funding concerns
Shenanigans occurred last week around special education (SPED) funding in the House Appropriations committee.
Representative Kristey Williams (R-Augusta), the former chair of the House K-12 Education Budget Committee, continued her attempts to undermine public education through budget bill HB 2007 in her new role as Vice Chair of the House Appropriations Committee where she:
made a motion to zero out the additional $30 million in SPED funding that had been recommended by the K-12 Education Budget Committee
Rep. Williams’ motion passed, but a subsequent motion by Rep. Jason Goetz (R-Dodge City) to add $10 million was ultimately included in the bill
inserted proviso language that would make it appear as if the legislature does not need to appropriate any new SPED funding in the future
Williams tried pushing this accounting gimmick through in 2024, but failed.
Although the harmful proviso language did initially make it into bill HB 2007, I’ve received word that the language has been corrected and is no longer a concern. If something changes there, I’ll let you all know ASAP so we can take action.
$10 MILLION IS NOT ENOUGH & TAKES US BACKWARDS
Please see the more detailed discussion of SPED funding in this previous newsletter that explained the growing shortfall in SPED where the state has not been meeting its mandate to cover 92% of excess special education costs since 2011. $10 million falls way short of the recommended multi-year phase in plans from the State Board of Education, a Special Education Task Force, and the Governor, to get the state back to that 92% level. The Governor’s proposed budget calls for $72.6 million this year.
ADDITIONAL TALKING POINTS FOR EMAILS
Use one or a combo of these (in your own words, preferably) to create unique email wording.
Bill HB 2007 does not provide for the full funding of special education which jeopardizes the success of Kansas students.
Kansans have been asking the legislature to fully fund special education for years now. SPED has not been fully funded since 2011.
Districts must cover the special education shortfall with their general operating budget, which impacts all students.
Our public schools also provide special education services (including gifted programs) to kids outside of the public school system. Fully funding special education helps all Kansas kids.
No Vouchers in Kansas
The two voucher bills we’ve been following in the Senate passed out of committee last week.
SB 75 — Education Opportunity Tax Credit
As previously discussed, this bill would create a new voucher program in Kansas that would provide a refundable tax credit (much more beneficial than the typical charitable tax deduction) to families opting out of public school. They would receive an annual per child tax credit of $8,000 for kids attending an accredited private school or $4,000 per child for those attending a non-accredited school (e.g., homeschool), regardless of income.
This program would reduce the state general fund (used to fund public schools and other public goods) by about $135 million in the first year, with annual thresholds that allow the program to eventually grow to cover all students opting out of public school or around $211 million annually for just those kids currently attending an accredited private school.
Reminder: The governor’s budget is proposing $72.6 million to fully fund special education which benefits all Kansas kids. Our public schools even provide special education services (including gifted programs) to students in private schools.
SB 75 has no income limits, making it welfare for the wealthy. There is zero accountability to ensure our tax dollars are being used for legitimate education expenses or that Kansas children are receiving an adequate education.
SB 87 — Expansion of the Tax Credit Scholarship voucher program
Bill SB 87 attempts to expand the Tax Credit Scholarship program that already exists in Kansas. Like all vouchers, this program diverts state revenues that fund our public schools, to private schools that lack oversight for our tax dollars and are allowed to discriminate in admissions. Under the program:
Taxpayers or entities give money to Scholarship Granting Organizations
Contributions up to $500,000 receive a 75% tax credit, reducing their state tax liability.
Tax credits that exceed the taxpayers tax liability can be carried forward to future years.
Students who qualify for the program are not guaranteed to receive a scholarship; that decision rests with the private schools who can apply any number of criteria in granting admission.
The voucher program has already been expanded beyond its original intent to serve low income students. Year after year, leadership attempts (sometimes successfully) to expand the program. The current expansion attempt in SB 87 includes:
Opening the program up to various categories of students without any income limits.
Expanding the overall annual program cap from $10 million to $15 million, with triggers allowing it to grow to $25 million (i.e. total amount of state tax dollars being diverted to private schools)
Expanding the tax credit to 100% — receive 100% of your contribution back from the state via a tax credit; no charity involved here
This expansion is just another of many attempts to divert more of our public tax dollars to private schools, on the way to a universal voucher program with zero oversight for our tax dollars.
ADDITIONAL TALKING POINTS FOR EMAILS
Use one or a combo of these (in your own words, preferably) to create unique email wording.
There is no need to expand the Tax Credit Scholarship program. There are still over 200,000 free and reduced students eligible for the program. Opening up the program to more students will allow private schools to skip over the at-risk students the program was intended to help.
Subsidizing private school tuition with voucher programs like SB 75 & SB 87, reduces state revenues and undermines the state’s ability to adequately fund our public schools that educate over 90% of Kansas kids. Focus instead on fully funding special education for our public schools that also provide services to private school students.
The tax credit increase to 100% in SB 87 provides a lucrative tax avoidance scheme that is especially beneficial to corporations and wealthy donors with its contribution limit of $500,000.
SB 75 provides lucrative tax refunds to families for simply making the personal choice to opt out of a public good, regardless of family income. The bill contains no accountability to ensure our tax dollars are being used for legitimate education expenses or that Kansas children are receiving an adequate education.
A new champion for Special Education Funding
Representative Steven Howe (R-Saline County), a pretty conservative legislator, was a strong voice for special education and pushing back against Rep. Williams’ tactics during the meeting. Please send him an email thanking him for fighting to fully fund special education during the House Appropriations Committee meeting, especially if you are represented by him.
A few quotes from Howe during the meeting:
Copy & paste email to fully fund special education
TO: [Your Representative’s email address]
CC: Dan.Hawkins@house.ks.gov, Chris.Croft@house.ks.gov, Brandon.Woodard@house.ks.gov
SUBJECT: Fully Fund Special Education
Dear Representative,
As your constituent, I am asking that lawmakers increase the special education funding included in bill HB 2007. The $10 million currently in the bill does not meet the needs of Kansas students. The governor's budget proposes an increase of $72.6 million to get the state closer to its mandate to fund 92% of excess special education costs. All Kansas kids are hurt by the underfunding of special education as districts must move money from their operating budgets to cover the shortfall in special education.
Please focus on increasing special education funding and reject any voucher bills that come before you that will divert needed public dollars to private schools that lack oversight for our tax dollars.
Thank you,
Copy & paste email — Vote No on Voucher Bills SB 75 & SB 87
TO: Your State Senator’s email address
CC: Ty.Masterson@senate.ks.gov, Chase.Blasi@senate.ks.gov, Dinah.Sykes@senate.ks.gov
SUBJECT: Vote NO on SB 87 & SB 75
Dear Senator,
As your constituent, I urge you to vote no on voucher bills SB 75 and SB 87. Our tax dollars should be used to support our public schools that serve over 90% of Kansas kids. Focus on fully funding special education versus diverting needed public tax dollars to private schools that lack oversight and are allowed to discriminate in admissions.
SB 75 has no income limits, making it welfare for the wealthy. SB 87, with its $500,000 contribution limit and 100% dollar for dollar return on contributions also greatly benefits the wealthy and corporations. These contributions can no longer be considered a charitable donation. Both of these programs incentivize tax avoidance which reduces state revenues available to fund our public schools.
Please vote no on these and any other voucher bills this session.
Thank you,
Done and done. Thank you for making it so easy!
Done, thank you for all you do!