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Minutes for SB93 - Committee on Education
Short Title
Requiring the allocation of sufficient school district moneys to improve academic performance of underachieving students.
Minutes Content for Fri, Feb 19, 2021
Chairperson Baumgardner opened the hearing on SB93.
Tamera Lawrence, Assistant Revisor, Office of the Revisor of Statute, gave a brief overview of the bill. (Attachment 18)
Mike O'Neal, Kansas Policy Institute, appeared in support of this bill. Over the past several years of school finance litigation, much attention has been paid to Article 6, Sec. 6 of the Kansas Constitution which sets forth the duty of the Legislature to make suitable provision for the finance of the educational interests of the state. The Kansas Supreme Court has interpreted that provision as embracing the concept of "adequacy" of funding.
The Gannon Court has acknowledged that it is not only the Legislature's duty to provide a funding system that meets the adequacy test, it has the power to determine the allocation of that funding which has been found to be adequate and constitutional.
Performance outcomes are relatively flat and unacceptable given the unprecedented increases in funding the Legislature has provided. The answer lies in the same Article 6 of the Kansas Constitution but in Section 5 which reads "Local public schools under the general supervision of the State Board of Education shall be maintained, developed and operated by locally elected board. Current law already requires local school boards to annually conduct an assessment of the educational needs of each attendance center in the district before a budget is approved.
Other guidance is available to assist in the development of a budget in the KSDE's Kansas Accounting Handbook for Unified School Districts. Account Code 1000 is instruction. The importance of the instruction portion of the budget coupled with the local Board's constitutional and statutory directive should result in budgets that are built from the classroom up, not the administration building down.
In the Special Session of 2005, the Legislature, in response to a Court order requiring the appropriation of additional funds for schools, took bi-partisan steps to establish a state policy that at least 65% of funds should be expended for instruction. Schools have historically fallen short of that goal and has fallen far short every year since. Had school districts met that goal, over $9.4 Billion that was appropriated would have reached classrooms.
No future budget should ever be approved by the locally elected boards unless they are satisfied that the allocation of resources is "reasonably calculated such that all students may achieve the goals set forth in K.S.A. 72-3218(c).
The fiscal note explains "The enactment of SB93 would have no fiscal effect, as the bill requires school districts to allocate sufficient funding within its available resources so that all students may achieve the educational capacities." (Attachment 19)
Written neutral testimony was submitted by Deena Horst and Ben Jones, Legislative Liaisons, Kansas State Board of Education. (Attachment 20)
Opponent testimony was given by Mark Tallman, Associate Executive Director, Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB), saying KASB supports the "Rose capacities" and supports local decision making. However, KASB has three major concerns with this bill. First, it may suggest that locally elected school boards are not committed to achieving these capacities simply because they have not been reached. Second, it may imply schools are not reaching these goals because boards are misallocating dollars due to either indifference or ignorance, or perhaps some other reasons. And third, it may imply that the one-size fits all solution is simply spending more on a single budget function and less on everything else.
KASB wants to share with the Committee:
- The allocation of resources by local school boards has supported increased educational attainment, which directly aligns to goals of sufficient basic skills, sufficient training, for academic and vocational fields and sufficient academic or vocational skills to compete with other states in academics or in the job market.
- Some short-term education measures have fallen as Kansas schools experienced 8 years of below-inflation funding.
- Education funding has gone to new positions and programs, keep up with rising employee and building costs, enhancing facilities and shoring up the KPERS system.
- Almost 80 percent of Kansas total spending is allocated to instruction and other direct support of students and to supporting instruction.
- Kansas is above the national average and regional average, based on the most recent data, for percent of current operating funds spend on instruction.
- Although Kansas ranks high nationally, there is no relationship between the percent of budget districts spend on instruction and academic performance on state assessments.
- There is also little relationship between percent of total spending on instruction at the state level and national reading and math scores.
KASB believes this bill is unnecessary. (Attachment 21)
There being no other Conferees, the Chair closed the hearing on SB93.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:24 PM.
The next meeting will be held February 23, 2021 at 1:30 PM in Room 144-S.
