Brief⁽¹⁾

S.B. 203 amends the Kansas School Safety and Security Act and a provision of school law dealing with withholding student records.

Changes to the Kansas School Safety and Security Act include:

• The process for reporting potentially dangerous students is changed. School administrative employees would be required to make reports as well as professional and paraprofessional employees to the school district superintendent when they have information (current law refers to "knowledge") that a pupil fits one of the five criteria of a potentially dangerous student. Under current law, reports are made to school administrators.

Upon receiving a report, the superintendent is required to investigate the matter and, upon determining that the identified pupil is a pupil to whom the provisions of the law apply, report information and identify the pupil to all school employees who are directly involved or likely to be directly involved in teaching or providing other school-related services to the pupil. Students covered include those who:

have been expelled for conduct which endangers the safety of others;

have been expelled for commission of a criminal offense;

have been expelled for possession of weapons;

have been adjudged to be a juvenile offender and whose offense, if committed by an adult, would constitute a felony, except a felony theft offense involving no direct threat to human life; and

have been tried and convicted as an adult of any felony, except theft involving no direct threat to human life.

• A report regarding a student is not required if the expulsion, adjudication as a juvenile or conviction of a felony or conduct occurred more than 365 days prior to the report to the superintendent.



• The Kansas Juvenile Justice Code is amended to require a copy of the court's order in a juvenile adjudication be provided to the school district in which the juvenile offender is enrolled or will enroll.

S.B. 203 also amends the law dealing with withholding of a student's school records to prohibit withholding of these records for any reason. School records are declared to be the property of the student. Upon the request of a pupil or parent, the school records of the pupil shall be provided or, upon transfer of the pupil to another school district or to a nonpublic school, these records shall be forwarded to the new school district or nonpublic school. A pupil's records forwarded to another school district due to transfer will include original copies of all the student's records, including transcripts, grade cards, results of tests, assessments or evaluations, and all other personally identifiable records, files, and data directly related to the pupil.

Background

The Kansas Association of School Boards supported S.B. 203 as introduced.

The Kansas National Education Association expressed concerns about reporting information about dangerous students being limited to their activities only during the current school year.

A subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee met with a subcommittee of the House Education Committee and reached an agreement to include some of the provisions of S.B. 191 (reports to school superintendent) and S.B. 321 (student records) in S.B. 203.

The Senate Committee of the Whole amendment was technical.

The bill has no fiscal impact.

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/bill_search.html