Red Alert: Protect public education funding! Harmful budget bill undermines full funding of special education and more.
All hands on deck: Harmful education budget puts special education funding at risk
Below you will find EASY LINKS for sending emails asking Representatives to VOTE NO on House Sub for SB 387, the K-12 Education Budget bill that undermines efforts to fully fund special education (SPED).
Emails need to be sent ASAP. The initial vote on this harmful budget bill will be taken on Tuesday with final action likely on Wednesday.
This is one of those situations where we need to spread the word and get as many people as possible emailing representatives.
Quick Overview of the K-12 Education Budget bill
The House K-12 Education Budget Committee, led by Representative Kristey Williams (R-Augusta), has once again bundled harmful policy bills into the K-12 Budget bill to try to push through policies that can’t pass on their own merit.
The two most harmful bills were requested for introduction by the Kansas Policy Institute (KPI), a Koch organization that consistently works against our public schools in Topeka. Among other things, the policies undermine efforts to fully fund special education and jeopardize funding for at-risk students.
When heard in committee these bills had significant opposition from public education experts and advocates, and Kansas citizens, while the only proponents were the KPI CEO, a KPI lobbyist, and the wife of the KPI lobbyist.
Send Two Emails — Vote No on SB 387
We recommend sending two emails—one to your state Representative and one to Representatives we think could be on the fence based on their opposition to harmful public education bills in the past.
If the links below don’t work for you, see the copy & paste email templates at the bottom of the newsletter.
EMAIL #1 - Email your own state level representative.
Find your STATE LEVEL REPRESENTATIVE by entering your FULL address at openstates.org (denoted by LOWER chamber). Click on the rep’s name to find their contact info.
The link below will create a pre-populated email. You will just need to:
Enter your Representative’s email address in the TO: field
Add your Representative’s last name in the greeting
Sign off with your name and city
To be more effective…please customize/personalize the message by rewording the draft included. Maybe mention your connection to public schools in the opening sentence and/or use some of the talking points below.
EMAIL #2 — Potentially persuadable Representatives
If you know anyone who lives in these areas of Kansas, please encourage them to send their Representative an email. Emails from constituents hold even more weight. You can find their email addresses on the House Roster.
The link below will create a pre-populated email. You will just need to:
Copy & Paste the following emails in the TO field: Lewis.Bloom@house.ks.gov, jesse.borjon@house.ks.gov, Nate.Butler@house.ks.gov, william.clifford@house.ks.gov, susan.concannon@house.ks.gov, mike.dodson@house.ks.gov, john.Eplee@house.ks.gov, shannon.francis@house.ks.gov, Dan.Goddard@house.ks.gov, steven.howe@house.ks.gov, Trevor.Jacobs@house.ks.gov, jim.minnix@house.ks.gov, ken.rahjes@house.ks.gov, Mark.Schreiber@house.ks.gov, Adam.Smith@house.ks.gov, troy.waymaster@house.ks.gov, Laura.Williams@house.ks.gov, David.Younger@house.ks.gov, lisa.moser@house.ks.gov
Sign off with your name and city.
To be more effective…please customize/personalize the message by rewording the draft included or crafting your own message using some of the talking points below.
Reminder, if the links don’t work, use the copy & paste email templates below.
Talking Points
Kansans have been asking the legislature to fully fund special education for years now. SPED has not been fully funded since 2011.
This budget does not fully fund SPED.
The budget bill uses an accounting gimmick to make it appear as if SPED has been funded without the state actually adding additional funds.
Requiring school districts to use their Local Option Budgets to cover SPED costs, takes away the district’s ability to direct spending in a way that meets all student needs.
Some districts who haven’t met their LOB cap will likely have to raise property taxes to acquire the funding needed to meet student needs.
Bundling policy bills that haven’t been fully vetted by experts or committee members is a poor way to legislate. We expect more of our legislators.
The majority of the policy bills that have been bundled into this funding bill had significant opposition testimony and in most cases just one proponent.
Bill 2738, the SPED accounting gimmick, had over 100 pieces of opposition testimony and just one proponent (Kansas Policy Institute)
Bill HB 2650 that jeopardizes at-risk funding had significant opposition and just two proponents (Kansas Policy Institute lobbyist and his wife)
Do not stand for this irresponsible process that allows bad policy to be pushed through with public education funding.
Instead of actually fully funding special education (SPED) as was recommended by the State Board of Education, the Special Education Task Force, and the Governor, an accounting gimmick is being used to take money from local option budgets (funded by property taxes) to make it appear as if the state is meeting its obligation to fund 92% of excess SPED costs.
By reducing the locally raised dollars available, some districts will be unable to meet all student needs and others who have not reached their LOB cap will likely end up raising property taxes.
Please do not allow this irresponsible method of legislating to continue. Vote NO on House Sub for SB 387 and instead tell leadership you want a clean funding bill that fully funds special education as recommended by the State Board of Education, the Special Education Task Force, and the Governor.
Copy & Paste Email Templates
EMAIL #1 - To your own representative
TO: [Your Representative]
SUBJECT: Vote NO on House Sub for SB 387
Dear Representative,
As a constituent of yours, I ask that you vote no on House Sub for SB 387, the K-12 Education Budget bill. This bill irresponsibly bundles harmful policies that likely wouldn’t pass on their own merit, with the budget. Among other things, this bill disbands the Special Education Task force while ignoring their recommendation to phase in the full funding of special education and jeopardizes at-risk funding.
Kansans have been asking the legislature to fully fund special education for years now. This bill undermines those efforts by using an accounting gimmick to make it appear as if the state is fully funding special education. Districts are forced to use locally raised tax dollars to cover the $173 million (and growing) statewide SPED shortfall. This results in some districts not being able to spend their local dollars as needed for students and others likely having to raise property taxes.
Please do not allow this irresponsible method of legislating to continue. Vote NO on House Sub for SB 387 and instead tell leadership you want a clean funding bill that fully funds special education.
Respectfully,
[Your Name, City]
EMAIL #2- To potential persuadable Representatives
TO: Lewis.Bloom@house.ks.gov, jesse.borjon@house.ks.gov, Nate.Butler@house.ks.gov, william.clifford@house.ks.gov, susan.concannon@house.ks.gov, mike.dodson@house.ks.gov, john.Eplee@house.ks.gov, shannon.francis@house.ks.gov, Dan.Goddard@house.ks.gov, steven.howe@house.ks.gov, Trevor.Jacobs@house.ks.gov, jim.minnix@house.ks.gov, ken.rahjes@house.ks.gov, Mark.Schreiber@house.ks.gov, Adam.Smith@house.ks.gov, troy.waymaster@house.ks.gov, Laura.Williams@house.ks.gov, David.Younger@house.ks.gov, lisa.moser@house.ks.gov
SUBJECT: Vote NO on House Sub for SB 387
Dear Representative __________________,
I am reaching out to all of you as you've opposed some harmful public education bills in the past. I ask that you vote no on House Sub for SB 387, the K-12 Education Budget bill. This bill irresponsibly bundles harmful policies that likely wouldn’t pass on their own merit, with the budget. Among other things, this bill disbands the Special Education Task force while ignoring their recommendation to phase in the full funding of special education and jeopardizes at-risk funding.
Kansans have been asking the legislature to fully fund special education for years now. This bill undermines those efforts by using an accounting gimmick to make it appear as if the state is fully funding special education. Districts are forced to use locally raised tax dollars to cover the $173 million (and growing) statewide SPED shortfall. This results in some districts not being able to spend their local dollars as needed for students and others likely having to raise property taxes.
Please do not allow this irresponsible method of legislating to continue. Vote NO on House Sub for SB 387 and instead tell leadership you want a clean funding bill that fully funds special education.
Respectfully,