Legislators returned to the Kansas Statehouse Thursday, April 25, as the veto session is underway. As of Thursday, the governor has signed five education-related bills into law.

 

Bills signed into law 

SB 438 – AO-K Scholarship (now includes Blueprint for Literacy, State Board reporting requirements) 

The contents of four bills were added into SB 438, which originally only included eliminating the requirement to subtract other aid from the state payment in the AO-K program. 

The following bills were added into SB 438: 

• SB 544 – Establishes the Kansas Academic Excellence Scholarship to replace the Ethnic Minority Scholarship. 
  • The new scholarship is open to first generation college students or students whose parent is employed as a teacher or paraeducator in any grade Pre-K-12.
• HB 2645 – Nursing Service scholarship.
• HB 2646 (Hero scholarship) was added into this bill by the Senate Committee on Education. 
• SB 532 – Blueprint for Literacy.
• HB 2731 – Reporting requirements for the Kansas State Board of Education. 

SB 438 was approved and signed into law by the governor on Wednesday, April 24. The bill passed the House 98-22 and the Senate 34-3.

To read more about SB 438, click here. 

 

SB 19 – EMERGE Program and cardiac plans 

The contents of HB 2567 (EMERGE Program) and HB 2494 (developing emergency cardiac plans for schools) were added into SB 19.  

The EMERGE Program is a master’s degree scholarship program for Kansas National Guard members. 

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) is required to develop model emergency cardiac plans for schools and for local school boards to adopt an emergency cardiac plan. 

The bill passed the House 119-3 and the Senate 26-2. It was signed into law by the governor on Wednesday, April 24.

To read more about SB 19, click here. 

 

HB 2703 – At-risk programs and services 

The bill would include placement in foster care as a criterion for a student to be eligible for at-risk programs and services. 

It was approved and signed into law by the governor on Friday, April 12. The bill passed the House 119-0 and the Senate 40-0. 

To read more about HB 2703, click here. 

 

House Sub for SB 73 – Current year enrollment 

The contents of SB 73 were stripped from the bill and the contents of SB 386, as passed by the Senate, were inserted. Starting in 2024-2025, enrollment for funding will be based on the highest of current or prior year enrollment. For 2024-2025 only, the highest of current, prior or average of prior and second preceding year can be used. 

The bill was approved and signed into law by the governor on Friday, April 19. It was passed in the House 120-3 and in the Senate 35-4.

To read more about House Sub for SB 73, click here. 

 

HB 2547 – Authorizing schools to maintain stock supplies of emergency medication kits for certain life-threatening conditions 

The bill would allow schools to maintain a stock supply of emergency medications with a prescription from a physician or mid-level practitioner in the name of the school. The bill would require a physician or mid-level practitioner to review a school’s policies and procedures regarding the use, storage and maintenance of the stock supply prior to prescribing the emergency medication. 

It also would define the type and doses of epinephrine and albuterol that may be in the stock supply. 

The bill was approved and signed into law on Friday, April 19. It passed the House 120-1 and the Senate 35-3.

To read more about HB 2547, click here. 

  

Bills that have not passed either chamber 

House Sub for SB 387 – K-12 budget package bill 

Nine different bills were added into House Sub for SB 387. The following are other changes made during conference committee prior to First Adjournment: 

• HB 2738 – Special Education 
  • Removed counting local option budget (LOB) as state special education aid. 
  • Retained mandatory transfer from LOB to special education. 
  • Reduced special education aid increase from $77.5 million to $67.5 million. 
  • Retained district level excess cost calculation and reporting. 
  • Retained requiring the Kansas State Board of Education to develop a method to distribute new special education aid based on district level special education excess costs. 
• HB 2650 – At-risk 
  • Removed the peer review requirement from provisionally approved at-risk programs and services. 
  • Added an appeal process for items removed from the at-risk services and programs list. 
  • Delayed the at-risk reporting and accountability provisions for two years. 
  • Require the Kansas State Board of Education to do a two-year pilot with ten districts. KSDE would develop a process and it would be implemented in the 2025-2026 school year. 
• HB 2489 – Disposing of district property 
  • Removed the exemption for buildings that did not receive capital improvement state aid. 
• HB 2802 – Governor’s KSDE budget recommendations 
  • Stipulate the $5 million Public-Private Partnership Grant is for one year from KEY Funds. 
  • Removed $1.9 million enhancement for professional development state aid. 
  • Removed $1 million enhancement for teacher mentors. 
  • Restricts $5 million in Safe and Secure Schools grant funds to AEDs, cameras and AI gun detection software, and reinstates the dollar-for-dollar district match. 

 The contents of the following bills were not changed in conference committee: 

• HB 2506 – Virtual student participation in district of residence and virtual student funding. 
• HB 2514 – Open enrollment. 
• HB 2594 – Establishes the School Funding Task Force and abolishes the Special Education Funding Task Force. 
• HB 2717 – Adult virtual student funding audits. 

Although the conference committee came to agreement on all the above, the bill was not considered in either chamber before First Adjournment.  

 

Other bills making movement: 

HB 2669 – Codifying the Mental Health Intervention Team (MHIT) program administered by the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) in state statute.  

• Included in budget proviso. 
• Moving to KDADS with current funding. Accredited non-public schools would become eligible. 
• The governor vetoed the MHIT proviso language, but not the funding.

 

SB 501/HB 2785 – Transferring certain childcare programs to the Kansas Office of Early Childhood and separating licensing duties between the secretary for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the executive director of early childhood. 

• SB 96 passed the House 110-10. 
• Parents as Teachers will move from KSDE if enacted. KSDE will continue administration of 3- to 4-year-old at-risk and early childhood special education. 
• It’s awaiting a vote in the Senate. 

 

Up next:

The House and Senate are adjourned until 10 a.m. Friday, April 26.

Senate Ways and Means and House Appropriations will meet Thursday, April 25 and Friday, April 26 to discuss budget items.

Sine die is set for Tuesday, April 30. This means everything must be through both chambers by 11:59 p.m. that day.