House higher-education committee restores community-college and technical-college funding, suspends campus restoration transfer and adopts several KBOR-related

The House Committee on Higher Education Budget in Topeka approved a series of amendments and notations to the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) budget package during a multi-hour hearing, restoring several line items the Special Committee on Legislative Budget had pulled and adding targeted support for two-year institutions.

Representative Fairchild offered a package of amendments restoring funding that, he said, community colleges and technical colleges had considered recurring rather than one-time. The amendment included line items cited in committee discussion as: $14,300,000 for the two-year college business, industry and apprenticeship account; $17,500,000 for two-year college student-success initiatives; $5,000,000 for career-technical education capital outlay aid (renaming the account for community and technical college capital outlay); a specified distribution of $2,547,726 for career-technical capital outlay among listed institutions; and $10,500,000 for technical college operating grants. Committee staff described roughly $4,000,000 of reappropriations in the packet and said about $3,900,000 more would be required to fund an accelerating-opportunity program; staff summarized the net new adds as roughly $4,000,000 of net new spending with other amounts restoring previous allocations.

Representative Fairchild said the package was intended not to be an enhancement but to restore funding the two-year institutions relied on last year; the amendment passed on a voice vote after committee discussion and a roll-call was not recorded in the transcript. During debate members asked for and received staff clarifications on totals and whether specific amounts were already included in the committee’s printed bill.

The committee also addressed other KBOR-related items that had been removed by the legislative budget committee’s global amendment. Representative Haskins moved — and members approved — a notation asking the Appropriations Committee to reconsider a set of KBOR language and technical updates requested by the board and the reviser’s office; that notation was added to the committee report.

Two items that drew distinct discussion were the Kansas Blueprint for Literacy and the Campus Restoration Act funding. Representative Fairchild successfully offered an amendment removing a $10,000,000 appropriation for the Kansas Blueprint for Literacy from fiscal year 2026 on the grounds that the packet of one-time spends listed that item as a one-time allocation; the measure initially produced a 4–4 tie and the committee chair cast a deciding vote in favor, after which the amendment carried. The committee later approved Fairchild’s amendment to suspend the July 1, 2025 transfer from the State General Fund to the Campus Restoration Fund for one year; proponents described the suspension as a temporary measure to reduce near-term spending in a constrained fiscal environment and opponents said delaying dedicated restoration funds would prolong deferred-maintenance backlogs.

The committee also restored or added several other items through separate motions. Representative Haskins successfully moved to add $3,300,000 in recurring operating support to Washburn University’s municipal operating grant (the Washburn request is described in a separate presentation to the committee). Representative Potter Parcel moved and the committee approved adding $2,200,000 for the Kansas Osteopathic Service Scholarship program for fiscal year 2026 to restore prior funding levels.

Several motions were carried by voice vote; a few measures were tied and resolved with a tie-breaker. Committee staff and members repeatedly noted that some reappropriations and supplements removed by the Special Committee on Legislative Budget had been intended as recurring or as reappropriations and should be reconsidered at the subcommittee level. Committee staff supplied a handout summarizing 2024 one-time legislative spends as a reference for those discussions.

Votes at a glance: - Fairchild amendment (restore community colleges & tech colleges funding; multi-line package) — mover: Representative Fairchild; second: Representative Potter Parcel; outcome: approved by voice vote (no roll-call tally in transcript). Key line items cited: $14,300,000 (business/industry/apprenticeship); $17,500,000 (student success); $5,000,000 (CTE capital outlay); $2,547,726 (distributed CTE capital amounts); $10,500,000 (technical college operating grants). - Fairchild amendment No. 2 (remove $10,000,000 Kansas Blueprint for Literacy from fiscal year 2026) — mover: Representative Fairchild; outcome: approved after 4–4 tie and chair’s deciding vote (recorded in transcript as chair casting vote). - Fairchild amendment No. 3 (suspend July 1, 2025 transfer to Campus Restoration Fund for one year) — mover: Representative Fairchild; outcome: approved (voice vote; chair recorded voting in favor after 4–4 tie in earlier action pattern). - Haskins amendment (add $3,300,000 to Washburn University operating grant) — mover: Representative Haskins; second: Representative Amix; outcome: approved (voice vote). - Potter Parcel amendment (add $2,200,000 for Kansas Osteopathic Service Scholarship for FY2026) — mover: Representative Potter Parcel; outcome: approved (voice vote). - Haskins notation (request Appropriations to consider KBOR language updates) — mover: Representative Haskins; second: Representative Amix; outcome: approved (voice vote).

Ending: Committee members said they would report the revised KBOR packet and the committee report to Appropriations. The committee recessed before considering the University of Kansas and University of Kansas Medical Center budgets and scheduled those items for later consideration.