Conference committee trims K-12 coordination council funding, restores contracting authority for studies

A conference committee for education on Oct. 12 agreed to have the House recede to the Senate version of language governing the K‑12 Coordination Council and to further amend the bill’s Section 2 to reduce the appropriation for studies, a move lawmakers said would preserve the council’s ability to contract for research while limiting initial spending.

Lawmakers said the House Education Committee originally approved the proposal with a $120,000 appropriation; later questions about whether the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) had authority to contract for outside studies prompted lawmakers to reconsider the funding level and the authority to spend it. Committee members voted in favor of the conference motion during a roll call, with all members present recording affirmative votes.

The change matters because the K‑12 Coordination Council is intended to bring school-level practitioners and other stakeholders together to vet policy ideas and studies before those ideas reach the Legislature.…