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Stakeholders press committee for child care capacity, mental health, broadband, school-food and CPR funding
Summary
Advocates urged the committee to fund childcare expansion, school-based mental health and telehealth, E‑Rate broadband matching, child-nutrition copay elimination, CPR training kits and other education priorities.
A series of outside witnesses delivered brief oral testimony during the public-comment portion of the Committee on K‑12 Education Budget. Presenters summarized written testimony filed with the committee and highlighted line items or enhancements they urged members to support.
Thrive Allen County (Thrive Kansas) asked the committee to fund a Child Care Capacity Accelerator at $10,000,000 from the State General Fund to support local projects that expand slots, including innovative rural models. The witness emphasized a backlog of approved local projects and gave examples of multi‑county home‑based networks that had used prior capacity funds.
SparkWheel (Ethan Sperling and Kelly Stanford) described a request to expand their in‑school integrated student supports across additional Kansas feeder patterns. The transcript records a total cost figure that the witnesses gave as “$1,258,000,000” and an estimate that the expansion would serve an additional 45,100 Kansas students. Committee staff requested written copies for the record and follow‑up on the numbers.
Kansas Appleseed supported eliminating the reduced‑price meal copay, citing state and national evidence that hunger impedes learning and pointing to neighboring states that have removed copays. Several witnesses repeated support for the governor’s $5.5 million estimate to remove reduced‑price meal co‑pays for eligible students.
WANRAC (David Soffer) and other broadband advocates urged a $1,000,000 state match to draw down federal special‑construction E‑Rate funds, arguing the match reduces long-term broadband costs and delivers multi‑year savings to districts. WANRAC provided examples of projected returns on investment for districts that had used state matching programs.
The American Heart Association sought $250,000 to purchase school CPR training kits (mannequins and AED trainers) to implement recently enacted cardiac emergency response plan requirements and to encourage youth CPR training. Hazel Health proposed a public‑private pilot combining $2,000,000 in state funds with philanthropic support to deliver school-based telehealth mental-health services statewide and cited reduced absenteeism and improved clinical scores in partners’ evaluations.
KNEA and other education advocates reiterated support for Gannon‑era funding levels, consumer price index adjustments, and continued phasing to reach the statutory special‑education funding target (92%).
The transcript records committee members asking witnesses for written materials and for clarification of large or unclear figures (for example, the SparkWheel dollar total), and staff collected written testimony for the record. No committee votes occurred during the public‑comment block.
Witness list (selected): Logan Stensing (Thrive Allen County/Thrive Kansas), Ethan Sperling and Kelly Stanford (SparkWheel), Haley Kotler (Kansas Appleseed), David Soffer (WANRAC), Carrie Rinker (American Heart Association), Maria Jose Norrero (Hazel Health), Timothy Graham (KNEA), Erica Sheets (Moms for Liberty, Webex), Leah Fleiter (education stakeholder).
