Members of the Kansas State Board of Education during their April business meeting signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to formally establish the Kansas Advisory Council for Indigenous Education (KACIE). This is a partnership with the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE), Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) and the state’s four Native American tribes.

The MOU is a vehicle for the entities to operate as a permanent consulting body in matters related to Indigenous education in K-12 schools and colleges in Kansas. The KACIE had previously been a working group established in May 2022.

In other business, board members were presented with recommendations for spending the remaining estimated $23 million of ESSER III money that was provided to Kansas to address educational challenges created by COVID-19. Dr. Randy Watson, Kansas Education Commissioner, recommended the following:

• Postsecondary Transition – $1 million to Higher Paths
• Professional Development - $300,000 to Kansas LEADS
• Statewide Training – $10 million to LETRS, Kansas Math Proficiency Training and STEM Enhancement
• Assessment Assistance – $5 million, enhanced interim assessments and FastBridge
• Principal/Superintendent Training: $1.5 million
• Training with High Quality Instructional Materials - $5 million
• Registered Apprentice Program - $500,000

Board members are expected to vote on these recommendations, totaling an estimated $23 million, during their May meeting.

Also on Tuesday, board members approved the Accreditation Review Council (ARC) redetermination recommendations for the following school systems to be accredited:

USD 216 Deerfield, USD 261 Haysville-Campus, USD 314 Brewster, USD 349 Stafford, USD 397 Centre, USD 298 Peabody-Burns, USD 401 Chase-Raymond, USD 419 Canton-Galva, USD 422 Kiowa County, USD 500 Kansas City, USD 504 Oswego, and Life Preparatory Academy.

These systems were conditionally accredited in 2022-2023.

Board members voted to maintain conditional accreditation status for Christ the King Academy in Kansas City, Kansas.

The board also approved the recommendations made by the Evaluation Review Committee’s for the college-level educator preparation accreditation and program approval for Kansas State University, University along with preparation program approvals for Bethel College, MidAmerica Nazarene University, Pittsburg State University, Tabor College, The University of Kansas, and Wichita State University.

Board members heard a presentation on school bus safety from Scott Gordon, KSDE’s general counsel, and Keith Dreiling, KSDE’s director of school bus safety. The information presented focused on an amendment to K.A.R. 91-38-3 that would require transportation supervisors to avoid establishing bus stop locations that would require students to cross any roadway. The board will decide whether to approve the amendment and authorize submission of the proposed amendment through the formal regulatory adoption process during the board’s May meeting. Dreiling showed several videos gathered by bus drivers over the past several weeks where motorists continued to drive while the bus stop arms were deployed. Master Deputy Justin Green, of the Leavenworth County Sheriff’s Office who is also an Easton USD 449 school resource officer, described how he writes citations for stop arm violations. It was followed by discussion of potential public service announcements, future legislation, district procedures and other public education efforts to enforce the need for motorists to obey the bus stop arm laws.

Shane Carter, KSDE’s director of teacher licensure, presented information to the board about the American Board for Certification and Teacher Excellence (ABCTE), an alternative teacher certification program designed for those already in the workforce with bachelor’s degrees who want to become educators.

The ABCTE program provides online pedagogical training and content training to candidates to prepare them to pass ABCTE’s required Professional Teaching Knowledge (PTK) exam and their required content exam. Once the training is completed and the required exams are passed, the candidate receives a certificate of completion that can be used when applying to states that recognize ABCTE as an approved educator preparation provide to receive a teaching license.

Carter presented information about a potential pilot program with the State Board to provide preparation for the secondary content areas of biology, chemistry, English, math, physics and history/government/social studies.

Currently there are 15 states that recognize the ABCTE licenses, including Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Arkansas.

Carter also updated the board on the proposed literacy requirements for teacher licensure and presented options to verify structured literacy knowledge for pre-service and current teachers. If approved, elementary core content teachers, administrators, elementary special education teachers and school psychologists will have to complete the structured literacy requirements beginning July 1, 2027, in order to renew their licenses.

Dr. Ben Proctor, KSDE deputy commissioner of education, presented board members with an update on the school improvement model that is part of the Kansas Education System Accreditation, or KESA 2.0.

The model is based in the fundamentals of structured literacy, standards alignment, balanced assessments and quality instruction. The fundamentals are followed by structures, lead indicators and measures of progress. The board is expected to take action on the KESA 2.0 framework during their July meeting. Proctor and other KSDE staff will hold informational sessions in April and May across Kansas to update district officials on KESA 2.0 with follow-up sessions this fall.

Also, during their April 9 board meeting, members did the following:

• Heard a presentation from Natalie Clark, KSDE’s assistant director of Career and Technical Education about the 92 Kansas high school students who were chosen as the 2024 CTE Scholars;
• Welcomed several Kansas superintendents who were attending the meeting as part of the Kansas Educational Leadership Institute;
• Recognized Dr. Kellen Adams, superintendent of Leavenworth USD 453, and several educators and staff as part of the Month of the Military Child. Leavenworth USD 453 is one of five school districts in Kansas that have the Purple Star designation for their support of military students and their families; and
• Heard a vocal performance by first-grade students at Topeka USD 501’s Williams Science and Fine Arts Magnet School directed by Laura Cluke, USD 501’s nominee for elementary Kansas Music Teacher of the Year.

On April 10, the board visited the Kansas State School for the Blind (KSSB) in Kansas City, Kansas, and the Kansas School for the Deaf (KSD) in Olathe. They heard several presentations from students and staff on what progress the schools are making, what activities are going on at their respective campuses as well as how they are addressing the challenges they face.

The board will meet on May 14 and 15 in Topeka. The agenda and related materials will be posted here.