Kansas task force opens work on school finance overhaul, seeks detailed special-education funding data

Renee Erickson, chair of the Special Education and Related Services Funding Task Force, opened the group's first meeting on Friday, saying the panel should begin work immediately and be prepared to adapt as it develops a replacement school finance formula required by statute.

The panel was created by Section 4 of 2024 Senate Bill 387 and established in statute as "KSA 728194," Nick Myers, with the Office of the Revisor of Statutes, told members as he reviewed the task force's legal charge. "This group, was formed by in Section 4 of 2024, Senate Bill 387, so last year's education, funding and policy bill. It enacted KSA 728194 and that's where this task force was, has been established," Myers said.

The task force's statutory duties include reviewing the current school finance system, the methods for determining and distributing special-education state aid, inputs to the formula (funding levels and weightings), and outputs (academic achievement and reporting). Myers warned members that the panel must submit a report with recommendations on or before Jan. 11, 2027, and that the task force will expire on July 1, 2027.

Jennifer Light, KLRD fiscal analyst, gave a high-level briefing on how state education dollars are organized and where the formula sits within that structure. She said many pieces of the finance system are in statute and noted a recent change: special-education state aid above $528,000,000 is now distributed by a schedule the State Board of Education developed, not by statute. "The entirety of it is in statute," Light said of the core formula components, while explaining the exception for distribution above $528,000,000.

Members discussed meeting cadence and deliverables. Chair Erickson and Vice Chair Representative Susan Estes (Vice Chair) indicated they want a draft formula by the end of the calendar year to allow broader vetting in the next legislative session. The group proposed meeting again in late February (Feb. 21 or Feb. 24) and the week of March 31–April 4, then moving to monthly half- or full-day meetings. The chair said the panel should "be flexible" as federal or state circumstances change.

Tasking and data requests were a major focus. Members and staff agreed to compile baseline and comparative information for the next meeting, including: district-level totals for special-education state aid and the schedule-based distribution for amounts above $528,000,000; runs showing each district's percentage of excess-cost payments; historical runs and 5-year trends for revenues, cash balances and assessed valuation; census and special-education enrollment trends; post-audit studies and prior legislative history on weightings and hold-harmless provisions; and summaries of recent out-of-state formula changes (including Tennessee and Florida). Frank Harwood, Deputy Commissioner for Fiscal and Administrative Services at KSDE, offered to present how the State Board developed the current schedule and to help map how formula language appears in budget documents.

Staffing and logistics decisions were recorded: the task force will default to providing hard-copy spreadsheets and documents unless members request otherwise; staff will verify members are on the committee distribution list; and KLRD and KSDE staff will attempt to produce requested data ahead of the next meeting. Representative Christy Williams pressed staff for consensus estimates tied to special-education supplemental state aid; members also asked staff to provide the recent KLRD analyses and the legislative post-audit work that informed earlier weightings.

The meeting closed with Erickson urging members to consider ideal, unconstrained formula options before layering in political and budgetary constraints. "Let's see what we can develop and go from there," she said, asking the group to "think outside the box" while staff compiles baseline materials for future sessions.

Ending: The task force set immediate data and presentation priorities and scheduled follow-up meetings to begin detailed review of formula weightings, with staff directed to assemble district-level and historical financial information and KSDE to prepare an explanation of the State Board's recent special-education distribution schedule.