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Minutes for SB352 - Committee on Education
Short Title
Requiring transportation funding for school districts from the state general fund, not the state highway fund; making and concerning appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2019, for the department of education; abolishing the general state aid transportation weighting - state highway fund, special education transportation weighting - state highway fund and career and technical education transportation - state highway fund of the department of education.
Minutes Content for Tue, Feb 13, 2018
Chairperson Baumgardner called the meeting to order.
Tamera Lawrence, Office of Revisor of Statutes, gave an overview of SB352. She described the bill on transportation funding.
Senator Pyle questioned if the 4/10th's still went to the Department of Transportation. Senator Taylor asked if this was for this fiscal year only or if it's the upcoming year and for future years. Ms. Lawrence responded to questions.
Senator and Majority Leader, Jim Denning, presented proponent testimony. (Attachment 1) Senator Denning also responded to Senator Pyle's questions that the 4/10th went back into the State General Fund (SGF). Senator Denning stated it was directly diverted to the State Highway Fund. Senator Pyle questioned fixing this so it goes straight to the SGF. Senator Denning stated they would be working on that, just not in this bill, but noted it would probably be in Ways and Means Committee.
Senator Alley questioned the $100 million and if it was not counted between 2012-2017. Senator Denning stated that it could have possibly been overlooked as it was not found in an audit trail. It was not included in an analysis.
Second proponent, Michael White, Executive Director, Kansas Contractors Association, presented testimony. He noted his members would like to see movement on this issue and they understand they will not see the dollars overnight. (Attachment 2)
Ranking Minority Senator Hensley commented that this is more of an appropriation bill that should be considered in the Ways and Means Committee in his opinion. Mr. White stated he didn't disagree with that, and this bill could have been in either Committee. Chairperson Baumgardner noted that the bill was assigned to the Senate Education Committee hence the hearing on the bill.
The third presenter, Mark Tallman, Associate Executive Director, Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB), gave neutral testimony. (Attachment 3) He discussed why the KASB was neutral, and detailed information presented in his handout. Mr. Tallman went over the charts he provided. He detailed the three charts that show recent trends in education outcomes, which indicate the KASB concerns of what have happened after the cuts in funding. He noted the overall point is that they have seen a decline in the SGF and what Kansas has spent on education as a share of the state's economy, and he believes this is why there is a law-suit on school funding and there are concerns for infrastructure. Mr. Tallman also presented information that is found on page nine, which details issues. Chairperson Baumgardner reminded Mr. Tallman that the hearing today is about SB352 only. Mr. Tallman responded that he feels his information relates to this bill at hand.
Senator Alley questioned from page 3 and if this money wouldn't have been included in the total amount of State Aid that was shown. Mr. Tallman responded the answer depended on who's answering what information they are given, but he wants to make clear that what he presented here is the total amount of school district expenditures from all sources. He noted that the highway fund money would be included in what he provided, but on the other hand the chart on page 8 is only school district aid from the SGF so that line doesn't include transfer from the highway fund. Senator Alley asked if spending includes an unencumbered balance. Mr. Tallman responded a total unencumbered balance is not included for that year.
Senator Bollier asked if the question today was to not use highway funds, and asked Mr. Tallman why he presented other information. He responded that he gave the context to show how we got into this situation and the KASB concern that if we stop the transfer from the State Highway Fund and replaced that with general state aid, that money will not provide any additional funding as it will just replace the other funds.
Chairperson Baumgardner requested Mr. Tallman provide us the historic unencumbered funds from districts. Senator Pettey asked for it to include specific districts and specific reasons. Chairperson Baumgardner responded that it would not be possible to provide it by specific districts.
Written testimony was included from the Kansas Department of Transportation (Attachment 4) and Economic Lifeline Kansas (Attachment 5).
