House Status:
Senate Status:
Senate Status:
Minutes for HB2218 - Committee on K-12 Education Budget
Short Title
Establishing the Sunflower education equity act to provide education savings accounts for qualified students in Kansas.
Minutes Content for Mon, Feb 6, 2023
Tamera Lawrence, Office of the Revisor of Statutes, presented the revisor memorandum that explains each section of HB 2218. Ms. Lawrence explains that Section 1 provides definitions for relevant terms used throughout the bill, including, but not limited to, “qualified school” and “qualified student.” Section 2 of the bill establishes the sunflower education equity program to be administered by the state treasurer at the direction of the board established in section. Section 3 establishes the sunflower education equity board. Section 4 provides the powers and duties of the board in its role of overseeing and managing the sunflower education equity program. Section 5 of the bill requires the treasurer to maintain certain program information on the treasurer’s website, including, but not limited to, the allowable uses of money in an account, the program handbook, the duties of the board and the duties of the treasurer. Section 6 requires a parent of a qualified student seeking enrollment in the program to make application on a form and in a manner determined by the board. Section 7 authorizes parents to make expenditures from a qualified student’s account for specific educational purposes. Section 8 establishes the sunflower education equity scholarship fund in the state treasury to be administered by the state treasure. Section 9 of HB 2218 allows a parent to appeal to the board any administrative decision made by the treasurer or board and requires the board to establish an appeals process. Section 10 requires a tutor seeking to provide tutoring services to a qualified student to apply to the board on a form and in a manner determined by the board. Section 11 requires qualified schools to provide qualified students enrolled full-time at such school instruction in reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies and science. Section 12 requires a qualified school that enrolls 50 or more qualified students to annually make available the aggregate test scores of either all students enrolled in the qualified school or all qualified students enrolled. Section 13 states that nothing in the act is to be construed to permit any governmental agency to exercise control or supervision over any nonpublic school or home school. Section 14 states HB 2218 would be effective on July 1 upon publication in the statute book (Attachment 1).
Ms. Lawrence stood for questions.
The Chair opened the hearing on HB 2218.
Donna Carlson, private citizen, spoke in favor of HB 2218 and explained how her family would have, and still would, ease the financial strain of homeschooling children (Attachment 2).
John Walker, Central Christian School, spoke in favor of HB 2218 and ensured that Christian Schools are held accountable by several agencies (Attachment 3).
Brenda Catalan, private citizen, spoke in favor of HB 2218 and to the financial hardships of having kids with learning disabilities and how establishing the Sunflower education equity act would impact their family for the better (Attachment 4).
Josiah Enyart, Freedom Learning Academy, spoke in favor of HB 2218 and to the challenges faced by parents wanting to home school their child (Attachment 5).
Brittany Jones, Kansas Family Voice, spoke in favor of HB 2218 and to the legality of the bill within the context of other state Supreme Courts and the United States Supreme Court (Attachment 6).
James Franko, Kansas Policy Institute, spoke in favor of HB 2218 and portrayed the issue of low-income Kansas families being unable to have school choice in comparison to their high-income counterpart (Attachment 7).
Shannon Pahls, Yes. Every Kid., Inc., spoke in favor of HB 2218 and explained the organization's belief of bipartisan support for the bill (Attachment 8).
Jon Leuth, Americans for Prosperity, spoke in favor of HB 2218 and to the idea of outdated policies and regulations being prioritized over the needs of Kansas families (Attachment 9).
Gerard Robinson, private citizen, spoke in favor of HB 2218 and argued against ideas and claims of racial division and bigotry operating as the backbone of the bill in question (Attachment 10).
Tad Nuce, Berean Academy, spoke in favor of HB 2218 and argued that the system is unfairly prioritizing public schools over accredited private schools (Attachment 11).
Conferees stood for questions.
Justin Wiebers, Christian Home Education Coalition of Kansas, spoke neutrally on HB 2218 and expressed a desire for multiple amendments to be made to the bill (Attachment 12).
The conferee stood for questions.
Liz Meitl, private citizen, originally submitted opponent testimony but stated she was now a proponent of HB 2218 due to the fact that she would be able to promote critical race theory, socialism, and atheism.
Sarah Mackay, private citizen, is a parent two children, one at a Kansas public school and one from a Catholic private school. Ms. Mackay stated while seeing HB 2218 from both sides, she cannot justify pulling funds from public schools (Attachment 13).
Leah Fliter, Kansas Association of School Boards, offered testimony in opposition to HB2218. Ms. Fliter stated that the bill sets up a system of unregulated schools, funded by Kansas taxpayers, which won't be required to be overseen by the Kansas department of education or any other agency (Attachment 14).
Lauren Miller, Kansas National Education Association, offered testimony in opposition to HB 2218 stating that the bill will dismantle Kansas schools. Ms. Miller noted that it is KNEA's belief that HB 2218 is predicated on the idea that Kansas public schools are failing students (Attachment 15).
Deena Horst, Kansas State Board of Education, offered testimony in opposition to HB 2218. Ms. Horst mentioned multiple concerns such as funding responsibility, parents not registering their homeschool with the Board of Education, and public tax dollars going to private schools (Attachment 16).
Mary Sinclair, Kansas PTA, offered testimony in opposition to HB 2218. Ms. Sinclair stated that HB 2218 originated outside of Kansas and the true solution to educational equity and equality is the Gannon case (Attachment 17).
Jim Karleskint, United School Administrators of Kansas, offered testimony in opposition to HB 2218 due to his extended experience as an educator, administrator, legislature, and his firm belief in the separation of church and state (Attachment 18).
Jess Herbig, Goddard Public Schools, offered testimony in opposition to HB 2218. Mr. Herbig stated that HB 2218 would unfairly hurt students of special education programs at both Goddard Public Schools and the private parochial schools they serve (Attachment 19).
Justin Coup, Solomon Schools, offered testimony in opposition to HB 2218. Mr. Coup shared that on February 5th, 2023, the first Solomon Schools student in 40 years died of suicide and asked the committee what the fiscal responsibility of schools will look like in the future (Attachment 20).
Renee Scott, Atchison Public Schools, offered testimony in opposition to HB 2218 despite being a product of private education due to her belief that there is inequity between public and private schools in accountability and accreditation (Attachment 21).
Craig Correll, Coffeyville Public Schools, offered testimony in opposition to HB 2218, saying that moving funds from public schools will decrease opportunities for students in his district (Attachment 22).
Anthony Biagioli, private citizen, offered testimony in opposition to HB 2218 saying that it stole money from public schools and that private schools lack oversight (Attachment 23).
Judith Deedy, Game On for Kansas Schools, offered testimony in opposition to HB 2218 due to a lack of financial, academic, and legislative oversight (Attachment 24).
Conferees stood for questions.
Written Testimony
Compiled proponent written-only testimony, filed alpha first initial, last name (organizations filed by abbreviation) (Attachment 25)
Gerguin Catalan, private citizen (Attachment 26)
Scott Durkee, Kansas Home Educators (Attachment 27)
Compiled opponent written-only testimony, filed alpha first initial, last name (organizations filed by abbreviation) (Attachment 28)
Janell Conner, private citizen (Attachment 29)
Michael Argabright, Southern Lyon County Unified Schools (Attachment 30)
The Chair closed the hearing on HB 2218.
Meeting adjourned at 6:12 PM.
Next meeting is February 7th, 2023.
