The Kansas State Board of Education has directed the creation of a blue-ribbon task force charged with making recommendations for student cell phone use in the classroom. 

During their July meeting this week, board members asked Kansas Education Commissioner Dr. Randy Watson to form the group, which is expected to be comprised of two board members, students, teachers, principals and other education representatives.  

They will be asked to provide recommendations for a policy or guidance for the nonacademic use of cell phones during instructional time. 

In August, the board is expected to tell the task force how broad or narrow they want the recommendations to be that will then be presented to the board by late fall of this year. 

Click here to read more from Watson about the task force. 

During the board’s second day of their July meeting, members approved the school improvement model for the second iteration of the Kansas Education System Accreditation, known as KESA 2.0. 

As part of the motion approved by board members, they will receive quarterly updates on the implementation progress of KESA 2.0. 

Click here for a summary of the KESA 2.0 school improvement model. 

During the board’s second day of their meeting, members voted to not require the completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for graduation. The board has been considering since last year whether the completion of the application should be a requirement for Kansas high school students beginning with the graduating class of 2028. 

The board is expected to have FAFSA completion as a future agenda item. 

In other business, board members heard a presentation concerning behavior issues in Kansas schools and how some emergency safety interventions (ESI) for students were causing significant disruptions in the classroom or school. 

Disability and special education professionals, including those from the Kansas Technical Assistance Network (TASN), spoke to what intervention training and resources are available for educators to adequately address classroom behavior issues as well as trainings scheduled for educators through the Kansas Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS).  

Frank Harwood, KSDE deputy commissioner of fiscal and administrative services, presented the board with Fiscal Year 2026 budget recommendations that will be presented to the 2025 Kansas Legislature.  

Budget recommendations board members approved included $5,618 for base state aid per pupil funding, an increase from the current $5,378, which Harwood said is based on a three-year average of the Midwest consumer price index (CPI).  

Board members also approved an increase in compensation for their work beginning in 2025 that aligns with the compensation legislators approved for themselves earlier this year.  

Nearly all of the budget recommendations board members approved are at statutorily required funding levels for 2025-26 school year: 

• $625,000 in the supplemental state aid (local option budget state aid); 
• $207.5 million in capital improvement state aid (bond and interest state aid); 
• $105 million in capital outlay state aid; 
• $5.06 million for Kansas county-based juvenile detention centers; 
• $87.5 million as part of the state board’s three-year phase-in plan to fund special education at 92% of excess costs by 2028; 
• $517,662 for transportation costs for Career and Technical Education students; 
• An additional $1 million for the teacher mentor program; 
• An additional $3.85 million for educator professional development; 
• $360,693 for National Board Certification program; 
• $2,510,486 to meet federal maintenance of effort funding for the school lunch program; 
• $9,437,635 for the Parents as Teachers (PAT) program; 
• Funding for the pre-K pilot that serves 4,500 3- to 4-year-olds, including at least 50% who are at-risk with $4.2 million coming from the Children’s Initiatives Fund and $4.13 million coming from TANF. 
• An additional $10 million ($15 million in total) to fully fund the requests from districts for the Safe and Secure Schools grant program; 
• $1 million for the state’s 10% match for the federal E-rate broadband infrastructure program that had been previously paid for with state fiscal recovery funds; 
• $70,000 to cover the costs of administering the federal E-rate program that had previously been reimbursed by grant funds from the Kansas Board of Regents; and 
• $626,500 for KSDE staffing and technology support for new at-risk accountability reporting as required by SB 387 passed and signed into law during the 2024 legislative session. 

In other business, board members: 

• Received a report on the results of a data collection process for instructional materials districts are using across the state; 
• Approved the appointments to the Professional Standards Advisory Board; 
• Received recommendations of the Evaluation Review Committee for higher education accreditation and program approvals; 
• Received proposed revisions to Career and Technical Education (CTE) clusters set to go into effect for the 2025-26 school year; 
• Received the redetermination recommendations for five school systems conditionally accredited under the current Kansas Education System Accreditation, or KESA. KESA 2.0, the second iteration of the accreditation process, launches this fall; and 
• Received a comprehensive policy from the Kansas Schools for the Blind and Deaf for the use of Narcan, a drug used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Board members are expected to consider the policy during a future monthly meeting.