Brief(1)
H.B. 2907 does the following.
Nonresident Enrollments in School Districts. Under current law, school districts have general discretionary authority to accept nonresident enrollments and, if they so choose, to charge tuition for attendance by such pupils. An amendment retains the discretionary authority of school district boards to accept nonresident enrollments but eliminates the authority of the board to charge tuition therefor.
Payments from the School District Inservice Education Fund. School districts are authorized to make direct payments from the inservice education fund to certificated personnel for attending staff development programs or activities conduced during times when the person's service under the contract is not required.
Background
H.B. 2907, as introduced, included language designed to permit a school district board to enroll nonresident pupils up to the limit of a class, grade level, or building, after having reserved places for pupils entitled or required to attend the schools. Boards would have been prohibited from charging tuition for the enrollment of nonresident pupils.
The House Education Committee amendment retained the nonresident pupil tuition prohibition, but removed the language that imposed certain limitations upon such enrollments, leaving these determinations entirely to the school board.
Representative Kay O'Connor presented testimony in support of the bill. Among other things, Representative O'Connor said that the charging of tuition to nonresident pupils discriminates against families who are poor. She noted that, under the school finance law, any tuition paid on behalf of such pupils is a deduction in computing a district's general state aid entitlement. Therefore, the school district does not benefit financially from tuition payments, but the state does.
The Kansas Association of School Boards indicated that it had no policy position concerning a school board's ability to charge tuition. However, the Association suggested consideration be given to removing some of the proposed new language contained in the bill and that it simply retain the nonresident pupil tuition prohibition. The Committee amendment carried out this recommendation.
There were no other conferees.
The State Board of Education explained that the bill would not require any additional appropriations to that agency. The Division of the Budget's fiscal note was not available at the time the Committee acted on the bill.
The House Committee of the Whole amendment includes the content of H.B. 2746. In hearings before the House Committee on Education, conferees explained that such expenditures can be made from the general fund or other appropriate funds of the school district, but not from the inservice education fund. Payments can be made from the inservice education fund for inservice education programs approved by the State Board of Education under Ch. 72, Art. 96 of the Kansas Statutes Annotated. Payments of the type contained in the amendment are not now approved by the State Board.
1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext-bill.html.