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Minutes for SB386 - Committee on Education
Short Title
Requiring enrollment under the Kansas school equity and enhancement act to be determined using the current school year or the preceding school year and requiring any district that closed a school building in the preceding school year to use the current year enrollment count.
Minutes Content for Tue, Jan 30, 2024
Chair Baumgardner opened the hearing.
Staff gave a brief overview of the bill. (Attachment 3)
Jim Howard, Superintendent of Schools, North Jackson Heights Schools USD 335, gave a brief history of the closing of USD 113 Wetmore Schools and the impact it had on North Jackson Schools.
Currently, 110 students who reside in the Wetmore district are attending school in North Jackson Heights Schools USD 335. The students were welcomed and have integrated seamlessly into the educational community and have excelled academically. Passage of last year's bill would have ensured North Jackson would receive the per-pupil base aid for the new students but the Governor vetoed that section, preventing the school from receiving the crucial funding needed. It is their hope that passage of this bill will help prevent other districts from having to bear the brunt of another district's decision to close.
Mr. Howard gave a Direct Impact Overview and Systemic Issues impacting his district.
Enabling districts to receive state aid in the same year they admit new students, especially those affect by school closures, ensures a more equitable distribution of financial responsibilities. Accessing state aid promptly allows for better financial planning and resource allocation, mitigating the immediate financial challenges associated with increased enrollment. Advocating for the requirement of closing districts to use current-year enrollment aligns with the principles of fairness and transparency. It promotes fair and transparent distribution of resources. (Attachment 4)
Discussion followed.
Proponent Written Only testimony submitted by:
Dr. Brent Yeager, Superintendent, Olathe Public Schools USD 233 (Attachment 5)
Tavis Desormiers, Superintendent, Nemaha Central Schools, USD 115 (Attachment 6)
G.A. Buie, Executive Director, USA-Kansas and Kansas School Superintendents Association, gave neutral testimony saying his organizations opposed the elimination of using the current year enrollment for BASE aid when the current law was established six years ago but it was argued by the legislature that delayed payment was necessary to manage the state budget for better accountability of the actual dollars needed to fund K-12 education. It is the same reason the organizations stand neutral to this bill.
Removing access to the second previous enrollment count leaves a number of school districts without an opportunity to appropriately roll back expenses and plan for their future.
Suggested options:
- Leave in the previous two year look back, plus allow districts to use current enrollment to determine a district's base aid.
- Allow districts to use an average of the two prior years as an alternative to only the previous year
- For the 2025 budget phase in the single prior year, allow districts to use either of the two previous years, giving districts a year to find the appropriate reductions without disrupting the educational integrity of the district.
The Legislature should be encouraging the closing of the less than efficient attendance centers. (Attachment 7)
Angie Stallbaumer, Deputy Director and General Counsel, Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB), stated that KASB's member adopted legislative policy supports allowing school districts to use either their current year enrollment or the greater of the past two years' enrollment to calculate state aid. It is believed that this position helps growing-enrollment districts and districts with stagnant or declining enrollment plan for how their districts can best serve local students.
Our growing-enrollment districts are here today to ask for the addition of the current year enrollment option and KASB supports them but also support declining enrollment district that wish to retain the two-year look-back to help "smooth out" the impacts of enrollment declines. KASB urges the committee to strike the bill's provision requiring districts that closed a school in the previous year to use their current year enrollment. This particular provision adds a greater financial burden to these situations and disincentivizes districts from making the very difficult and emotional, but fiscally responsible, choice to pursue a building closure. (Attachment 8)
Discussion followed.
Neutral Written Only testimony submitted by:
Dr. Craig A. Correll, Superintendent, Coffeyville Public Schools USD 445 (Attachment 9)
Todd Evans, Superintendent, Prairie Hills USD 113, said the flexibility to use unweighted student funding from the previous or prior year allowed the USD 113 Board of Education to budget for and plan for a transition that minimized the impact of the closure of the Wetmore Academic Center (WAC). The Board was able to offer positions to all classified and licensed personnel from WAC. If USD 113 were required to use current year unweighted FTE for 23-24 as indicated in this bill, an implementation of reduction in force would have been required at the of 22-23.
USD 113 does support adding a current year count for unweighted FTE to the Kansas Education Funding Formula. This supports districts with increasing enrollment. (Attachment 10)
Kathleen Lippert, USD 113 Board of Education Member, said the proposed amendments in this bill creates a penalty for a district that closes an attendance center. Codifying a financial penalty for closing a building will incentivize districts to increase taxes and decrease educational opportunities to avoid the penalty. Legislators must focus on statewide taxes. At the local level, boards of education are focused on providing a great education while respecting the burden on local taxpayers. (Attachment 11)
Kellen J. Adams, Superintendent, Leavenworth USD 453, stated that
- This bill may represent a significant drop in General Fund revenue that was not planned or able to be predicted because the higher year is no longer an option.
- Districts are currently making hiring decisions for next year right now. The effect date (if next year) could be problematic as districts are making those hiring decisions today.
- Failure to provide at least one option other than the current year does not give districts a chance to appropriately right-size their staff.
- The concern of helping districts meet the needs of students that are here today is valid; Is there a way to help those districts, without harming others in such a short timetable? (Attachment 12)
Opponent Written Only testimony was submitted by:
Susan Willis, Chief Financial Officer, Wichita Public Schools USD 259 (Attachment 13)
Rob Reynolds, Superintendent, Douglass Public Schools USD 259 (Attachment 14)
Discussion followed.
The Chair closed the hearing on the bill.
The next meeting will be January 31, 2024 at 1:30 pm in Room 144-S.
