Shannon Kimball

Good morning, #ksed! On Thursday, the U.S. Senate Approps Cmte will hear FY 26 budget for Dept of Ed. Admin’s budget outline has $12 Billion in cuts to K-12 AND a plan to block grant $ to states. Contact Sen. Moran & urge him to protect Ks schools. #ksleg

Lots of questions and discussion about the at-risk pilot.

First up—Dr. Harwood if KSDE reporting on the at-risk plan pilot project. Process is partly about ID’ing issues with the process before it goes live for all districts in 2027

Chair Renee Erickson announcing that Rep. Megan Steele replacing former Rep. now Senator Scott Hill on the task force.

Good morning #ksed—day 2 of the July Ed Task Force meeting. Here’s what’s on tap:

Some substitute members today—SBOE member Cathy Hopkins, Rep. Sherri Brantley, and superintendent Dr. Brad Kempf.

Hello #ksed. At the Kansas Education Funding Task Force July meeting. On tap today:

More Than a Third of Homeschool Families Also Use Public Schools, New Data Shows ‘I don't know any family that really has kids who learn the same way,’ one parent said.

More Than a Third of Homeschool Families Also Use Public Schools, New Data Shows @the74.bsky.social @lrj417.bsky.social #EduSky www.the74million.org/article/more...

Credit to @leahfliter.bsky.social for covering the hearing over in that other social media place and sharing her content!

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The US House "Big Beautiful Bill" also has vouchers. Senate "BBB" bill differs. The 2 chambers must true up their different versions for the bill = law. That means Sens. Moran and Marshall, Reps. Mann, Schmidt, Estes, and Davids need to hear from Kansans ASAP.

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Henry explains how vouchers will affect Ks kids. "Resources matter. What impacts a child is best possible teacher you can find. Diverting $ means you're hurting every district's ability to hire good teachers."

Discussion now of lack of awareness of the danger of the U.S. Senate voucher. Henry: "public schools do a great job and we have to let parents know" what's going on.

Hirono: people don't realize that this is a nationwide private school voucher program, against voters' will, buried in a huge bill.

Henry noted in his remarks that private school vouchers will force consolidation. Schulte from NE reiterates that private schools may give a SPED student a voucher but the services are provided by the public schools.

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine/VA asks KS, NE witnesses about vouchers/rural schools. due to demographics, "We're guaranteeing these vouchers are going primarily to urban areas."

Researcher from Brookings Inst tells Senate that the vouchers in the bill don't pay the full cost of private school tuition. Rather, wealthy families benefit from subsidized tuition.

Henry: in KS we constantly have the discussion that SPED funding helps all kids because every kid pays the price when SPED is underfunded. You have to take from the general fund. "I know the KS Senators are hearing from state lawmakers that Congress needs to do its part."

Sen Van Hollen/MD notes full funding of IDEA would have helped KS kids w/millions of $ in additional funding. Van Hollen has co sponsored a bill to phase in full IDEA $ from Congress. KASB visits Hill annually to advocate for full SPED funding.

Add’l Note: the $20 billion in vouchers in the Senate bill hurt these Kansas kids whose pub schools are preparing them for success in college, careers, and the military.

Note: the vouchers in the Senate bill have no accountability for licensure, curriculum, or financials. That's unacceptable.

FL teacher Alexis Underwood on vouchers in her state: voucher schools reject any child; voucher schools aren't required to be financially/educationally accountable. "I hope that Congress will invest in our public schools, which give all children the opportunity to succeed."

Note: the #ksleg has rejected private school vouchers in a strong, bipartisan manner. In 2025, Ks House refused to take up a deeply unpopular voucher bill. #ksed, urge Jerry Moran & Roger Marshall to respect the will of the voters & authority of ksleg & reject this bill.

Schulte: the pending fed bill imposes vouchers no one wants. "Stand with us. This is not about party lines, this is about doing what's right for students, for local control, and for public education."

Next spker is Paul Schulte, a NE public school teacher. He notes that Nebraska has consistently rejected school vouchers, including last summer when voters overturned by referendum an attempt by Neb lawmakers to thwart their will by imposing unwanted vouchers.

Henry: this is the 50th anniv of IDEA, which guarantees every student the high quality ed they deserve. Yet the Senate provides $4b/yr to private schools able to reject or discriminate against kids. We cannot afford to fund two school systems.

Dr Henry: publicly funding private ed leads to a dramatic defunding of the public schools that serve most U.S. kids. And they defund the rural schools that serve as the lifeblood of the community. "When the schools close, so do the communities."

🚨 voucher schools aren't req to accept special ed students or other kids who might be harder/more expensive to educate. Ahem.

Valant: the tuition tax credit vouchers in the fed bill give donors a 100% tax write-off for payments to "scholarship granting orgs" which dole out private school vouchers. That's fed tax revenue flowing from public schools to unaccountable private schools.

Valant reviewing data on how voucher programs don't serve the kids they claim to care about. Typically are used to subsidize private tuition vs helping needy public school fams.

1st witness is Jon Valant/Brookings Inst. Valant: there are challenges that need to be solved in pub schools, esp for kids in poverty or in spec ed, but focus seems to be on private school vouchers rather than addressing larger issues.