Kansas House Takes Steps to Avoid Education Cuts

School Counselor Legislative Report Prepared for the Kansas Counseling Association and its members February 17, 2017

Kansas House takes steps to avoid education cuts

A series of bills debated in the Kansas House of Representatives on Thursday and Friday would have the expected outcome of preventing public education cuts this year and next.

Here’s what the House did:

Income tax increase passed

On a bipartisan vote of 76 to 48 Thursday, the Kansas House of Representatives passed a bill to raise income taxes, add a third tax bracket, eliminate the so-called March to Zero trigger mechanism, and restore the itemized deduction for medical expenses. The bill raises an estimated $590 million next fiscal year. It now goes to the Kansas Senate, which has scheduled a debate for Friday morning.

Here’s a link to how lawmakers voted: http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2017_18/measures/vote_view/je_20170216113619_852564/

The bill is Substitute for House Bill 2178.

40 Republicans and 36 Democrats voted for the measure, while 44 Republicans and four Democrats voted no.

Observers noted that a re-established Republican-Democrat coalition worked together to pass the bill and challenge Governor Sam Brownback’s tax plan. Brownback wanted to use mostly one-time money to shore up the budget while keeping his 2012 income tax cuts.

Brownback has attacked the House measure and threatened to veto it.

On Thursday afternoon the Kansas Senate debated a Democrat-written bill (SB 188), but a motion to advance it to a final vote failed by a vote of 10 to 30. The Senate Democrat bill would have raised $702 million in FY 2018, significantly more than the House bill that will be debated Friday.

House taps Treasurer’s idle funds for current year budget

One proposal by Governor Brownback has been given reluctant preliminary approval by the Kansas House.

House Bill 2161 liquidates the long term investment fund through the Pooled Money Investment Board (PMIB) to raise $317.1 million to fill the FY 2017 budget gap (said to be about $350 million). Lawmakers express a lot of distaste for this approach, but say it’s the only option to prevent deep budget cuts, especially to education.

Under the bill, the state would make annual loan payments of about $52 million for six years to pay the money back. The first installment would be due June 30, 2019.

The measure, if passed, would fill most of the budget hole until any income tax increases would start flowing into the state when 2017 taxes are due in 2018.

A final vote on HB 2161 will take place Friday morning in the House of Representatives.

Bill to fix FY 2017 budget passes House

In conjunction with HB 2161 (above), the House will also vote Friday morning on House Bill 2052, the rescission bill.

The bill makes adjustments to the current Fiscal Year 2017 budget to make it balance when passed in conjunction with the liquidation of the long term investment fund contained in HB 2161.

If both HB 2161 and HB 2052 pass on Friday, the Kansas House of Representatives will have accomplished something important. It will have completed a House plan to fix the current year budget and deal with future budgets. Education would not be cut this year under the House bills.

Please remember, however, that the Senate must pass identical bills to the House before those bills become law and the Senate has yet to take action.

School finance hearings held

The first of three bills competing to be the next school finance formula had hearings this week in the House Committee on K-12 Education Budget.

House bill 2270 was developed over the past two years by Representative Melissa Rooker (R-Fairway) and Senator Laura Kelly (D-Topeka).

Rooker and Kelly are proposing a new formula that is similar to the previous formula, which was repealed in 2015 for the current block grant system.

Some of the new ideas in the bill:

 Enrollment count would be based on the previous year’s numbers  Kindergarten students are counted as full-time if it’s an all day program  The way at-risk weighting is determined changes: based on census information  Virtual school aid would be based on the “foundation student aid amount”  Capitol outlay budget help from the state would require local districts to levy a minimum of four mills local effort

The Legislative Research Department estimates the state would need to increase K-12 funding by $336.5 million in FY 2018 under the measure, with increases of about $200 million each year afterward for the next three years. Fewer Kansas students pursuing higher education

Handouts compiled by Kansas State University officials for a meeting this week concerning University admissions contained some alarming information.

The percent of Kansas high school students pursuing higher education in Kansas has dropped from 83.6 percent in 2012 to 72.1 percent in 2016. That’s an 11.5 percent drop.

The information was compiled by the Kansas State University Office of Undergraduate Admissions using a variety of reports. The information was assembled for a qualified admissions presentation for the Kansas Board of Regents.

State budget reductions in support for higher education over the past several years have resulted in increased tuition costs. Some believe that’s one reason that higher education enrollment is down 1.2 percent this year in Kansas.

Respected economic studies have indicated that a higher level of education in the population results in higher economic growth, which makes the latest revelations troubling.

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: http://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/

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 Bill Subject Current Status Last Action and Sponsor

SB 138 Exempting KPERS licensed school retirants from In Senate Financial 02/02/2017 - Senate the working after retirement earnings limitation Institutions and Referred to Financial Institutions Senate Ways and Insurance and Insurance Means Committee

SB 146 Continuation of 20 mill statewide levy for In Senate Assessment 02/03/2017 - Senate schools and property tax exemption of certain and Taxation Referred to Assessment and Senate Assessment portion of property used for residential Taxation and Taxation purposes from such levy Committee

HB 2048 School district plan addressing child sexual In Senate Education 02/15/2017 - Senate abuse; establishing Erin's law Referred to Education House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee

HB 2078 Authorizing the reduction or elimination of In House Education 01/20/2017 - House property tax exemption by a school district Scheduled Hearing in Education: House Education Wednesday, 1/25, 3:30 PM, Rm Committee 546-S

HB 2113 Permanently exempting postsecondary In House 01/20/2017 - House educational institutions from the public Appropriations Referred to Appropriations House Appropriations buildings law under the personal and family Committee protection act HB 2138 State fire marshal; school lockdowns; rules and In House Local 01/25/2017 - House regulations Government Referred to Local Government House Local Government Committee

HB 2142 Establishing a unified school district employee In House K-12 02/15/2017 - House health care benefits program Education Budget Withdrawn from Appropriations; House K-12 Education rereferred to K-12 Education Budget Committee Budget

HB 2165 Development and implementation of ethnic In House Education 01/26/2017 - House studies in schools Referred to Education House Education Committee

HB 2171 Student privacy and protection act In House Federal and 01/27/2017 - House State Affairs Referred to Federal and State House Federal and Affairs State Affairs Committee

HB 2179 Due process for terminating teachers' contracts In House Education 02/08/2017 - House Scheduled Hearing in Education: Steven G. Crum, D-98th Tuesday, 2/14, 3:30 PM, Rm 546-S

HB 2242 Enacting the classroom-based funding act In House K-12 02/15/2017 - House Education Budget Withdrawn from Appropriations; House K-12 Education rereferred to K-12 Education Budget Committee Budget

HB 2243 Authorizing school security officers to use In House Corrections 02/02/2017 - House certain types of emergency safety interventions and Juvenile Justice Scheduled Hearing in House Corrections and Corrections and Juvenile Justice: Juvenile Justice Monday, 2/6, 1:30 PM, Rm 152- Committee S HB 2270 Creating the education finance act In House K-12 02/15/2017 - House Education Budget Withdrawn from Appropriations; House K-12 Education rereferred to K-12 Education Budget Committee Budget

HB 2324 School district finance and quality performance In House K-12 02/15/2017 - House act of 2017 Education Budget Withdrawn from Appropriations; House Appropriations rereferred to K-12 Education Committee Budget

HB 2360 Establishing the division of the state employee In House 02/14/2017 - House health benefits plan in the department of Appropriations Referred to Appropriations House Appropriations administration Committee

Bernie Koch Government Relations [email protected]