Brief ⁽¹⁾

SB 231 prohibits an employee of a unified school district from being a member of the school board in which that person is employed. Employees who are currently employed and serving on the school board would be allowed to serve until an eligible successor is elected or appointed.

Background

Representatives of the Kansas Association of School Boards and the United School Administrators of Kansas testified in support of SB 231. They stated that a conflict of interest occurs when teachers or administrators serve as a member of the school board where they are employed, especially in executive meetings involving negotiations and personnel matters. A representative of the Kansas National Education Association and a teacher who currently is serving on a local school board where she is employed as a teacher testified in opposition to the bill. They said that it should be up to the voters to decide who should serve on school boards.

The Senate Committee on Elections and Local Government amended the bill to apply the prohibition to all school district employees and permitted employees currently serving on school boards to continue until a successor has been elected or appointed.

The Division of the Budget's fiscal note indicated that the passage of the bill would have no fiscal impact on state revenues or expenditures.

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