The Kansas Legislature is now on a ten-day unpaid break. The House and Senate return March 6.

This period is called the turnaround and is supposed to mark the halfway point of the legislative session. The turnaround break is normally only four or five days. The unusually long break is supposed to help save days for later in the session when difficult decisions might be faced.

Here is an update of some of what occurred this week. I will try to put together a more comprehensive look at the halfway point and legislation of interest to school counselors sometime next week.

This would be a good time to contact your legislators to let them know you want them to fund education.

Where we are on taxes and budget

You have probably been reading and hearing the news about what’s happened with income tax increases. Here’s a summary that I hope is not too complicated.

  • On Wednesday, Governor Sam Brownback vetoed Substitute for House Bill 2178, the income tax bill that would have gone a long way toward fixing Kansas structural budget problems.
  • On Wednesday, the Kansas House of Representatives successfully overrode the Governor’s veto by a vote of 85 to 40. It takes 84 votes to override a veto in the House.
  • Later that day the Senate vote to override the veto was not successful. It was 24 to 16. 27 votes are needed to override.

With the failure by three votes to override the Governor’s veto of the income tax bill, here’s what’s happening.

Both the House and Senate Tax Committees met briefly “at the rail” on the 3rd floor of the Statehouse Thursday and passed out bills that could be part of a new tax package.

The overall thinking is that if most of the “yes” votes will hold, tweaking the income tax brackets or when the tax increase take effect could bring in the three Senate votes needed to pass an override.

With the Governor’s veto sustained and bills that raise less money now in the mix, Senate budget writers are going to begin to look at where to cut the budget. They appear to be looking at cuts that assume that some income tax bill will pass, but one that will not cover all of expected future shortfalls for a few years.

This is not good news for education funding. It puts even flat funding at risk.

Here’s how House members voted on the veto override:

Here’s how Senate members voted on the veto override:

Any day now, the Supreme Court could rule

Here’s a quick reminder. Lawmakers know that a decision could come any day now on the school finance lawsuit that challenges the adequacy of state funding for public education.

A court ruling in favor of the school districts that are suing the state could force lawmakers to find an additional $150 million to $500 million.

Up next, school finance

School finance is expected to move to the forefront when legislators return for the second half of the session. Some hearings have been held, but more are expected. Any court decision will certainly play a part in what happens.

Although the formula was supposed to be written this year after two years of block grants, little preparation has occurred. Some legislators are suggesting that with tax and budget issues taking up so much time, rewriting the formula should be delayed another year. The Kansas Supreme Court may have something to say about that.

Due process reversal passes House

It started out as a bill on arbitration, but House Bill 2186 ended up being a bill that returns due process to teachers. The amendment on due process was added during debate on the House floor.

When teachers receive notice their contracts will be terminated or non-renewed, the notice would include a statement that the teacher could have a hearing upon written request with the clerk of the board of education.

The definition of “teacher” would include any professional employee who is required to hold a certificate to teach in any school district. It specifically does not include supervisors, principals, superintendents, or any person employed under the authority of the statute governing the hiring of these kinds of administrative personnel.

Here’s a link to a description of what’s in the bill. The portion having to do with due process is near the end.

This is a very important bill for the Kansas-National Education Association. Here’s a link to how House members voted on the bill:

Bill on working after retirement gets strong House approval

Once again this year, the complicated issue of public employees working after retirement for other public entities has surfaced. House Bill 2268 passed the House 116 to 9 this week.

The bill makes several changes to KPERS relating to working after retirement.

Under this bill, starting on July 1, 2017, individuals who retire at age 62 or older and are subsequently re-employed by a participating school district would be exempt from the current $25,000 earnings cap. The school district would be required to make a contribution to KPERS equal to 30 percent of the retiree’s compensation.

This is an extremely complicated bill, but the purpose is to allow school districts and others to employ KPERS retirees (under certain conditions) when there is a shortage of available people to fill a position.

Here’s the link to the supplemental note on the bill. Good luck trying to understand.

If the bill passes, the best way to get information (as I’ve suggested in the past) is to contact the KPERS office in Topeka.

Find your legislator

Want to contact your legislator to let them know what you think of any issue?

Here’s a quick and easy way to do it. Just go to:

Enter your full address, click on the magnifying glass icon. A map of your legislative district and the names and pictures of your state senator and representative will appear.

Click on their name to get contact information.

Bill tracker

Below is a listing of the bills we are tracking for the educator members of the Kansas Counseling Association. You can click on the bill number for more information. It will take you to the Kansas Legislature’s web site, where you can read information on the bill.

Many bills will have a Supplemental Note or Fiscal Note. Click on SN or FN to get information in layman’s terms.

Bill Number
and Sponsor / Bill Subject / Current Status / Last Action
SB 138
Senate Ways and Means Committee / Exempting KPERS licensed school retirants from the working after retirement earnings limitation / In Senate Financial Institutions and Insurance / 02/02/2017 - Senate
Referred to Financial Institutions and Insurance
SB 146
Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee / Continuation of 20 mill statewide levy for schools and property tax exemption of certain portion of property used for residential purposes from such levy / In Senate Assessment and Taxation / 02/03/2017 - Senate
Referred to Assessment and Taxation
SB 205
Senate Ways and Means Committee / Allowing certain time away from work or normal duties to be credited as participating service under KPERS and KP&F / In Senate Financial Institutions and Insurance / 02/21/2017 - Senate
Referred to Financial Institutions and Insurance
HB 2048
House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee / School district plan addressing child sexual abuse; establishing Erin's law / In Senate Education / 02/15/2017 - Senate
Referred to Education
HB 2078
House Education Committee / Authorizing the reduction or elimination of property tax exemption by a school district / In House Education / 01/20/2017 - House
Scheduled Hearing in Education: Wednesday, 1/25, 3:30 PM, Rm 546-S
HB 2113
House Appropriations Committee / Permanently exempting postsecondary educational institutions from the public buildings law under the personal and family protection act / In House Appropriations / 01/20/2017 - House
Referred to Appropriations
HB 2138
House Local Government Committee / State fire marshal; school lockdowns; rules and regulations / In House Local Government / 01/25/2017 - House
Referred to Local Government
HB 2142
House K-12 Education Budget Committee / Establishing a unified school district employee health care benefits program / In House K-12 Education Budget / 02/15/2017 - House
Withdrawn from Appropriations; rereferred to K-12 Education Budget
HB 2165
House Education Committee / Development and implementation of ethnic studies in schools / In House Education / 01/26/2017 - House
Referred to Education
HB 2171
House Federal and State Affairs Committee / Student privacy and protection act / In House Federal and State Affairs / 01/27/2017 - House
Referred to Federal and State Affairs
HB 2179
Steven G. Crum, D-98th / Due process for terminating teachers' contracts / In House Education / 02/21/2017 - House
Motion pending to withdraw from Committee and place on General Orders; Motion withdrawn
HB 2186
House Judiciary Committee / Enacting the uniform arbitration act of 2000 / In Senate Judiciary / 02/23/2017 - Senate
Referred to Judiciary
HB 2242
House K-12 Education Budget Committee / Enacting the classroom-based funding act / In House K-12 Education Budget / 02/15/2017 - House
Withdrawn from Appropriations; rereferred to K-12 Education Budget
HB 2243
House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee / Authorizing school security officers to use certain types of emergency safety interventions / In House Corrections and Juvenile Justice / 02/02/2017 - House
Scheduled Hearing in Corrections and Juvenile Justice: Monday, 2/6, 1:30 PM, Rm 152-S
HB 2268
House Financial Institutions and Pensions Committee / Extending the sunset date on certain working after retirement exemptions / In Senate Financial Institutions and Insurance / 02/23/2017 - Senate
Referred to Financial Institutions and Insurance
HB 2270
House K-12 Education Budget Committee / Creating the education finance act / In House K-12 Education Budget / 02/15/2017 - House
Withdrawn from Appropriations; rereferred to K-12 Education Budget
HB 2324
House Appropriations Committee / School district finance and quality performance act of 2017 / In House K-12 Education Budget / 02/15/2017 - House
Withdrawn from Appropriations; rereferred to K-12 Education Budget
HB 2360
House Appropriations Committee / Establishing the division of the state employee health benefits plan in the department of administration / In House Appropriations / 02/14/2017 - House
Referred to Appropriations
HB 2374
House Taxation Committee / Expanding the tax credit for low income students scholarship program / In House K-12 Education Budget / 03/06/2017 - House
Referred to K-12 Education Budget

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