----------------------------------------------------------------------------


 9  A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION directing the State Board of Edu-
10    cation to define the components of an essential core curriculum that
11    should be offered to every elementary and secondary public school
12    student, respectively, regardless of school size and location, to deter-
13    mine the probable costs of providing that curriculum, and to make a
14    report thereon to the Education Committees of the Senate and House
15    of Representatives.
16
17    WHEREAS, A public education, consisting of adequate instructional
18  programs, is considered as essential to the development and well-being
19  of our children, and the State of Kansas, since statehood, has provided
20  for the financing of public schools through state taxes and other mecha-
21  nisms provided by the Legislature, including local effort; and
22    WHEREAS, The Legislature is charged by the Kansas Constitution
23  with the responsibility of providing for intellectual, educational, voca-
24  tional and scientific improvement by establishing and maintaining public
25  schools, educational institutions and related activities which may be or-
26  ganized and changed in such manner as may be provided by law; and
27    WHEREAS, The Legislature is charged by the Kansas Constitution to
28  make suitable provision for finance of the educational interests of the
29  state; and
30    WHEREAS, The Kansas constitution requires that local public schools
31  under the general supervision of the state board of education shall be
32  maintained, developed and operated by locally elected boards, which may,
33  when authorized by law, make and carry out agreements for cooperative
34  operation and administration of educational programs under the general
35  supervision of the state board of education, subject to limitation, change
36  or termination by the Legislature; and
37    WHEREAS, The State Board of Education is charged by the Kansas
38  Constitution with general supervision of the public schools and other
39  educational interests of the state and shall perform such other duties as
40  may be provided by law; and
41    WHEREAS, The Supreme Court of Kansas has held that the basic
42  mission of the State Board of Education is to equalize and promote the
43  quality of education for the students of this state and that the Legislature
HCR 5021
                                     

 1  may enact legislation to facilitate or assist the State Board in carrying out
 2  its constitutional mission; and
 3    WHEREAS, The Legislature, in addressing its constitutional charge
 4  to provide suitable funding for public education, has an interest in de-
 5  termining the components of an essential core curriculum, consisting of
 6  adequate instructional programs, that should be offered in elementary
 7  and secondary public schools in the state, respectively, and determining
 8  a suitable State funding base, meeting the requirements of the Kansas
 9  Constitution, for that essential core curriculum; and
10    WHEREAS, The Legislature acknowledges that a quality education
11  encompasses a variety of instructional programs in addition to those that
12  may be required at a minimum in order to satisfy the charge in the Kansas
13  Constitution, and that the funding of those additional programs will con-
14  tinue to be provided by traditional funding sources, but desires to define
15  the constitutional boundaries of the funding required by the Kansas Con-
16  stitution in order to avoid unnecessary litigation over the funding of public
17  schools in the state; and
18    WHEREAS, The Legislature believes that local school boards should
19  continue to be authorized to help develop their own additional instruc-
20  tional offerings and that local effort, consisting of various options, should
21  continue to play a role in the funding of the variety of educational offer-
22  ings developed by the state and local boards: Now, therefore,
23    Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of Kansas,
24  the Senate concurring therein:  That the Legislature, in recognition of
25  the facts contained in the preamble of this resolution and being aware of
26  the necessity of having a definition of an essential core curriculum in
27  order to make suitable provision for the State funding of public educa-
28  tional interests contemplated by the Kansas Constitution, hereby directs
29  the State Board of Education to define the components of an essential
30  core curriculum, consisting of adequate instructional programs, to be
31  available in every school district in the state; and
32    Be it further resolved:  That upon adoption of its definition of an es-
33  sential core curriculum and specification of the academic components
34  thereof, the State Board of Education is hereby directed to collect and
35  record the costs, sufficiently itemized and with supporting documenta-
36  tion, that would be incurred, at elementary and secondary school sites of
37  all sizes and from all parts of the state, in providing that essential core
38  curriculum; and
39    Be it further resolved:  That the State Board of Education is hereby
40  directed, upon collecting the costs associated with providing the essential
41  core curriculum, to cause a report thereof, including the identity of the
42  schools involved in the report, to be delivered to the Education Com-
43  mittees of the Senate and the House of Representatives at the com-
HCR 5021
                                     

 1  mencement of the 1998 Session of the Legislature; and
 2    Be it further resolved:  That the Secretary of State is hereby directed
 3  to transmit enrolled copies of this resolution to the State Board of Edu-
 4  cation and to the Commissioner of Education, 120 S.E. 10th Avenue,
 5  Topeka, Kansas 66612-1182.