Senate Education Committee advances several education bills, rejects intelligent-design measure

The Senate Education Committee met to consider committee work on a slate of education bills and voted to advance or amend several measures while rejecting one proposal to mandate intelligent design content.

The committee chair, Senator Beard, opened the session noting there were no public bill hearings scheduled and outlined the items for committee action. Committee members discussed substantive changes to multiple bills, heard proposed amendments from the sponsor or staff, and recorded formal committee votes on each measure.

Why it matters: The committee votes determine whether measures move out of committee to the full Senate and shape whether school districts and state agencies must alter notification practices, adopt new accreditation options, build new student education requirements or change parental notification policies for surveys.

What the committee acted on

Charter-schools bill (Senate Bill 2241): The committee voted to give the bill a “do pass” recommendation as amended. The committee previously addressed a clerical amendment and proceeded with a vote; the motion for a due pass as amended was made by Senator Gearhart and seconded by Senator Axman. The clerk reported 4 yeas, 0 nays, 2 not voting. The committee assigned a senator to carry the bill to the floor.

Annexation notice for school-district boundaries (Senate Bill 2351, amendment 25.1342.01003): Members debated an amendment that would require the county superintendent to send certified-mail notice at least 14 days before a public hearing to each owner of real property to be annexed into a school district and to publish notice of the hearing. The amendment clarified “owners of real property to be annexed” to narrow notice from a potentially county-wide set of owners to only those directly affected. The…