Topeka budget and bills put pressure on Wichita schools’ special-education and property-tax funding

Sean Miller, managing member of the Topeka lobbying firm Capital Strategies, briefed the Wichita Public Schools Board of Education on the 2025 Kansas legislative session and how pending budget and policy bills could affect district funding and operations.

Miller told the board that the Kansas House passed a substitute to House Bill 2007 that implements what he described as “constitutional full funding,” covering the Gannon court requirements plus the inflation adjustment (CPI) the court mandated. He said the House was the only chamber to pass a budget so far and that the Senate had begun its review; Miller estimated the Senate would pass a budget in early March and that first adjournment would occur the week of March 28.

That budget, Miller said, contains only a limited increase for special education. “There is $10,000,000 in new special education funding in the bill this year,” Miller said, adding that because some of last year’s money came from one-time federal ARPA dollars the net new amount was closer to $7.5 million. Miller said that at that funding level the state’s share of excess special-education costs would likely remain in the upper 60s percent of the total required by statute rather than approaching the 92% target in law.

Why it matters: school districts are required to meet federal individualized education program obligations; if the state underfunds excess cost, Miller said, districts must move local general-fund dollars to cover those federally required services, increasing local budget pressure.

Miller summarized several bills that the board is likely to hear about from associations and stakeholders. He said Senate Bill 47 would change how local school boards operate by allowing individual board members to place items on agendas and by limiting district authority to restrict board members’ access to facilities. Miller described the bill as broad and said it passed the Senate Education Committee by a narrow 21–19 vote.

He also discussed Senate Bill 76, the “Given Name Act,” which he said would restrict staff from referring to a student by a chosen name or pronoun that differs from the student’s birth-certificate name; Miller said the bill’s language was unclear on penalties but would allow injunctive relief and potential monetary damages and attorney fees, which could invite litigation for districts. That bill passed the Senate and moved to the House.

Miller described two different scholarship/tax-credit bills that would expand school-choice programs. Senate Bill 87 would expand low-income scholarship tax credits and add eligibility for children of certain public-safety personnel regardless of income; Senate Bill 75 would create a broader educational-opportunity credit (a “money follows the student” model). He warned that similar programs in other states grew quickly and could carry large price tags if not capped.

Miller also characterized the 2025 session as a “property tax session,” noting proposals to eliminate the 1.5 mills for educational building and to reduce the 20 mills used to fund K-12, and he emphasized that most property-tax revenue is controlled locally, not by the state. He said House Bill 2011 (which he said had passed a committee) would reduce the 20 mills to 18.5 with an automatic trigger to backfill school funding from the state general fund if local mills were reduced.

Board members asked questions about the state surplus and timelines. Miller told the board the combined state ending balance and rainy-day fund was about $3 billion and described the legislature’s revenue estimates and concerns about sustainability over several years.

Miller concluded by saying many bills the board might hear about did not make the first turnaround deadline and could no longer be acted on this year unless attached to exempt legislation, but that a small set of budget- and education-related measures would remain live and deserved attention.

(Reporting note: statements above are based on a presentation by Sean Miller during the board’s legislative-update agenda item.)