• 2025 State Resolutions
• 2025 Federal Resolutions
• 2025 KASB Permanent Policies

We love Kansas because…

Our public schools are the lifeblood of the smallest towns and largest cities.

Our students are prepared to thrive in work and in life.

Every community is a place of opportunity to earn a living and raise a family.

WE MUST DEFEND KANSAS VALUES
No matter what it’s called, any scheme to divert tax dollars from public schools is a voucher. Kansas taxes shouldn't support unaccredited schools that threaten kids' learning and safety...

• No way to know if students are learning
• No background checks are required
• No oversight by KSDE or any other organization
• No requirements to report student abuse/neglect

VOUCHERS HURT RURAL TOWNS
Vouchers for unaccredited schools hurt small towns because public schools lose funding. When a rural school closes, the town loses their mascot, their teachers and a major employer.

VOUCHERS INVITE FRAUD
In Arizona, vouchers for unaccredited schools have been misused to buy theme park tickets, Disney+ subscriptions, kayaks, $750 espresso machines, bounce houses and more. Kansas tax dollars should not be wasted.

VOUCHERS HURT STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
In Indiana and Ohio, vouchers for unaccredited schools caused a bigger decline in student achievement than during the COVID pandemic. In Louisiana, voucher learning loss was even worse than the loss from Hurricane Katrina. In all cases, voucher programs created worse outcomes for low-income students and students of color.

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PUBLIC DOLLARS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS
In Indiana and Ohio, vouchers for unaccredited schools caused a bigger decline in student achievement than during the COVID pandemic. In Louisiana, voucher learning loss was even worse than the loss from Hurricane Katrina. In all cases, voucher programs created worse outcomes for low-income students and students of color.

Kansans have countless reasons to be proud of our public schools. And we believe in their power to prepare every student for a bright future when public resources are invested in their success. In 2023, 9 out of 10 Kansas seniors graduated from high school — an all-time high.

• In 2023-24, Kansas high school students earned 6,188 professional credentials — a 150% increase since 2009.
• The 2023 state assessments showed the highest math scores since 2017, long before Covid.
• Kansas students in public schools often perform as well or better than their private school peers. 

KASB OPPOSES ALL K-12 VOUCHERS

Whether it's called a Tuition Tax Credit “Scholarship” or an “Education Savings Account,” it's a voucher. Vouchers divert our tax dollars away from public schools that serve all Kansas kids to private schools and unaccredited schools with little or no accountability to parents, students, or taxpayers.

Each year, KASB members from around the state vote to approve our legislative policies. Section 3 of our 2024 policy opposes all vouchers:

To ensure all students have the opportunity to succeed, all schools supported by public funds must serve all children on the same basis as public schools. We oppose programs including, but not limited to, vouchers, education savings accounts and tuition tax credits, because such programs divert public funding from public education to schools which are not required to serve all students, including those who are disadvantaged, disabled or those with the greatest needs.

2 THINGS YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW

1. Spread the word about how vouchers threaten Kansas communities and students.
2. Urge Kansas lawmakers to oppose any school voucher proposals or programs.

SOURCES AND ADDITIONAL READING

Vouchers used for fraudulent expenses:

• Universal ESA Vouchers Wide Open for Fraud & Abuse
• State and local experience proves school vouchers are a failed policy that must be opposed

Vouchers hurt rural: AZ school closures:

• Paradise Valley Unified School District approves first step toward closing four schools

Learning loss worse than COVID:

• What Causes More Learning Loss Than The COVID Pandemic?

Vouchers most benefit families already enrolled in private schools

• Private school students flock to expanded school voucher program

• KSDE SPED Explainer
• KSDE Spreadsheet

• KASB Task Force Testimony
• Final Bill Status 2024 Session

In the House

• HB 2485 – Requiring enrollment under the Kansas school equity and enhancement act to be determined using the current school year or the preceding school year and requiring any district that closed a school building in the preceding school year to use the current year enrollment count.
• HB 2489 –  Limiting the legislative option to purchase school district buildings to buildings that were formerly used as attendance centers.
• HB 2494 – Establishing policy requirements for school safety and security plans and cardiac emergency response plans and providing grant programs for the implementation of such policies.
• HB 2594- Establishing the education funding task force and abolishing the special education and related services funding task force.
• HB 2506​​​​​​ – Authorizing students enrolled in virtual schools to participate in activities that are regulated by the Kansas state high school activities association at such student’s resident school district without a minimum enrollment requirement in such resident school district.
• HB 2514 -Revising school district open enrollment procedures and requirements to prioritize students who are residents of Kansas over students who are residents of another state, providing for continued enrollment of students who attended a school district of nonresidence in school year 2023-2024, authorizing school districts to deem students as not in good standing prior to enrollment and requiring publication of nonresident student transfer policies on the school district website.
• HB 2521 - Requiring the state board of education to authorize teaching licenses for individuals who complete an alternative teacher certification program.
• HB 2547  - Authorizing schools to maintain certain emergency medication kits and to administer such medication in emergency situations.
• HB 2578 - Providing that programs and treatments provided by a certified community behavioral health clinic be granted a renewal certification if such programs and treatments have been previously certified or accredited.
• HB 2599 – Prohibiting charges for electronic copies and determinations of whether a record exists and limiting charges for employee time required to make records available under the Kansas open records act.
• HB 2612 - Requiring school districts to be in compliance with all state laws and rules and regulations to be accredited and requiring the state board of education to establish a process to challenge determinations of such compliance.
• HB 2641 – Requiring school districts to prohibit the use of privately owned electronic communication devices during school hours.
• HB 2650 – Requiring each school district to establish an at-risk student accountability plan and to show academic improvement in certain student subgroups and students identified as eligible for at-risk programs, prohibiting the state board of education from revising the curriculum standards in English language arts and mathematics until 75% of all students achieve proficiency and requiring school districts to comply with all state laws and rules and regulations to maintain accreditation.
• HB 2658 –  Authorizing school districts to require a student to attend virtual school when such student is returning to school after having been expelled.
• HB 2659 –  Transferring teachers from the KPERS 3 cash balance plan to the KPERS 2 plan and defining teachers for purposes of KPERS.
• HB 2669 – Codifying the mental health intervention team program administered by the Kansas department for aging and disability services in state statute.
• HB 2700 – Establishing the school library rating system task force to develop a rating system for materials available to students in public school libraries and requiring school districts to implement such rating system.
• HB 2703 – Including placement in foster care as a criteria for a student to be eligible for at-risk programs and services.
• HB 2711 – Increasing the amount of KPERS retirant compensation subject to the statutory employer contribution rate to the first $40,000 earned in a calendar year, providing a KPERS working after retirement exemption for retirants employed by a community developmental disability organization in a licensed professional nurse, licensed practical nurse or direct support position and increasing the working after retirement earnings limit for members of the Kansas police and firemen's retirement system.
• HB 2719 – Extending the time that school districts may provide notice to parents of the administration of any nonacademic test, questionnaire, survey or examination and requiring school districts to contact parents if any such test, questionnaire, survey or examination indicates concerns.
• HB 2732 – Authorizing school districts to employ or accept chaplains as volunteers.
• HB 2738 –  Revising the special education state aid statewide excess costs calculation to count additional funding, requiring the state board of education to determine each school district's excess costs and to establish a special education state aid equalization distribution schedule to distribute certain amounts of special education state aid and requiring school districts to transfer amounts attributable to the special education weighting from their supplemental general funds to their special education funds.
• HB 2793 – Prohibiting healthcare providers from performing healthcare services on minors without parental consent.
• HB 2795 – Requiring notices required to exceed the revenue neutral rate to be sent on forms provided by the director of accounts and reports, granting taxing subdivisions the option to hold hearings on the same day and at the same location as other taxing subdivisions within a county and excluding the state mandated 20 mills levied by a school district from the revenue neutral rate.
• HB 2803 – Creating the Kansas gun rights preservation act to prohibit the commandeering of state resources to enforce federal gun control against law-abiding citizens.
• HB 2815 – Abolishing the local ad valorem tax reduction fund and the county and city revenue sharing fund, discontinuing certain transfers to the special city and county highway fund and decreasing rate of ad valorem tax imposed by a school district.
• HB 2839 – Establishing a blueprint for literacy to create a literacy advisory committee, appoint a director of literacy education, require the state board of regents and the state board of education to collaborate on a literacy micro-credential and professional development, authorize the state board of regents to recommend diagnostic and formative literacy assessments, authorize university presidents and deans of education oversight over postsecondary literacy courses and require a plan to establish centers of excellence in reading.
• HB 2844 – Modifying income tax rates for individuals, increasing the standard deduction and the Kansas personal exemption, increasing the income limit for an income tax subtraction modification for social security income, increasing the extent of property tax exemption for residential property from the statewide school levy, decreasing the privilege tax normal tax rate, abolishing the local ad valorem tax reduction fund and the county and city revenue sharing fund and decreasing the rate of ad valorem tax imposed by a school district.

In the Senate

• HB 2494 – Substitute for HB 2494 by Committee on Education - Establishing policy requirements for cardiac emergency response plans for school districts and providing a grant program for the implementation of such policy.
• HB 2578 – Providing that programs and treatments provided by a certified community behavioral health clinic be granted a renewal certification if such programs and treatments have been previously certified or accredited.
• SB 373 – Prohibiting the use of public moneys for lobbying activities.
• SB 386 - Requiring enrollment under the Kansas school equity and enhancement act to be determined using the current school year or the preceding school year and requiring any district that closed a school building in the preceding school year to use the current year enrollment count.
• SB 387 - Providing for the continued enrollment of students who attend a school district of nonresidence pursuant to the school district open enrollment law.
• SB 387 amended – Providing for the continued enrollment of students who attend a school district of nonresidence pursuant to the school district open enrollment law.
• SB 390 – Enacting the conscientious right to refuse act to prohibit discrimination against individuals to refuse medical care and creating a civil cause of action based on such discrimination; repealing the authority of the secretary of health and environment to quarantine individuals and impose associated penalties.
• SB 427 –  Requiring school districts to publicly list the names and email addresses of current school board members, authorizing local school board members to add new items to board meeting discussions, ask questions or engage in discussion with members of the public and access school property, authorizing members of the public to address school boards at board meetings and authorizing payment of annual dues to any not-for-profit organization that provides services to member school districts.
• SB 428 – Requiring that each attendance center needs assessment be conducted by the local board of education and include input from board members, teachers, school site councils and school administrators and that board members receive certain state assessment data and identifying allocations of money in the school district budget and budget summary.
• SB 437 – Establishing the Kansas education enrichment program to provide educational awards to elementary and secondary school students for qualifying expenses for educational goods and services.
• SB 465 –  Authorizing school districts to levy an annual levy of up to two mills for the purposes of school building safety, security and compliance with the Americans with disabilities act and including such levy in the capital outlay state aid determination for such school districts.
• SB 479 – Transferring teachers from the KPERS 3 cash balance plan to the KPERS 2 plan and defining teachers for purposes of KPERS.
• SB 509 – Establishing the education opportunity tax credit to provide an income tax credit for taxpayers with eligible dependent children not enrolled in public school.
• SB 532 – Establishing a blueprint for literacy to create a literacy advisory committee, appoint a director of literacy education, require the state board of regents and the state board of education to collaborate on a literacy micro-credential and professional development, authorize the state board of regents to recommend diagnostic and formative literacy assessments, authorize university presidents and deans of education oversight over postsecondary literacy courses and require a plan to establish centers of excellence in reading.