Brief (1)
HB 2810 addresses two school finance matters. They are described below.
School District Education Services at Juvenile Detention Facilities. School districts receive state aid equal to the lesser of actual costs of educational services provided to children in juvenile detention facilities or two times Base State Aid Per Pupil. An amendment adds five new facilities to the list of participating facilities and deletes two that have closed. The five new facilities are St. Francis Academy at Atchison, St. Francis Academy at Ellsworth, St. Francis Academy at Salina, St. Francis Center at Salina, and Clarence M. Kelley Youth Center at Topeka. The facilities to be deleted because they no longer are operating are Charter Wichita Behavior Health System and Parkview Passages Residential Treatment Center of Topeka.
Program for At-Risk Four-Year-Old Children. The four-year-old at-risk program is expanded by 436 pupils -- from 1,794 to 2,230.
Effective Date. The bill becomes effective upon publication in the Kansas Register.
Background
School District Education Services at Juvenile Detention Facilities. School districts that provide educational services to pupils who reside in juvenile detention facilities or the Flint Hills Job Corps Center are eligible for state aid payments equal to the lesser of the actual cost of services provided or two times Base State Aid Per Pupil, based on the greatest number of pupils served on one of three counting dates: September 20, November 20, or April 20.
HB 2810 was requested by Representative Horst in order to add a total of four facilities in Ellsworth, Salina, and Atchison. The House Committee on Education amended the bill to add the Clarence M. Kelley Youth Center at Topeka and to delete Charter Wichita Behavior Health System and Parkview Passages Residential Treatment Center of Topeka, which have closed.
If these provisions become effective by April 20, 2000, school districts that provide educational services to the new facilities added by the bill would be eligible for state aid under the program in the current year. However, the State Department of Education estimates that there would be no fiscal impact in the current year because the increase in number of pupils served in the added facilities would be offset by the closure of the other two facilities.
For FY 2001, the State Department estimates that passage of HB 2810, as amended, would cost $664,702. This would be in addition to the $4,509,310 already recommended by the Governor for juvenile detention facilities grants under current law. The original fiscal note prepared by the Division of the Budget estimated a fiscal impact of $1,056,154, but the State Department has revised that amount downward to $664,702 following the House Committee's amendment to the bill to take into account the closed facilities.
Charter Schools. The House Committee of the Whole added amendments to the state's charter school law to HB 2810. The Senate Committee on Education removed the House Committee of the Whole amendments. At the same time, the Senate Committee on Education amended HB 2357 by making it Senate Sub. for HB 2357. Charter school provisions similar, but not identical, to those contained in the House Committee of the Whole amendments to HB 2810 now constitute the substance of Senate Sub. for HB 2357. (That bill originally proposed enactment of the Kansas Postsecondary Education Savings Program. The 1999 Legislature approved that program in another bill--SB 45.)
Program for At-Risk Four-Year-Old Children. Beginning in FY 1999, the state has funded an at-risk four-year-old program as part of the School Finance Act. Under the formula, school districts may count four-year-old at-risk children at 0.5 pupil for school funding purposes, up to a statutory limit of 1,794 children. Eligibility to participate in the program is based on federal Head Start guidelines, which place strong emphasis on children from low-income families. The Senate Committee of the Whole added the amendment that increases the program by 436 children--from 1,794 to 2,230. The estimated fiscal impact of the amendment is $1.0 million. This amendment is similar to the change recommended by the Governor for this program.
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