District lobbyist: Kansas Legislature’s fast calendar limited debate and left gaps in school funding

Stuart Little, Shawnee Mission Public Schools’ government relations representative in Topeka, told the board that the 2025 Kansas legislative session moved on an expedited calendar that compressed hearings and limited opportunities for public input and detailed vetting of bills.

Little said leadership in both chambers sought property‑tax reductions to accompany last year’s income‑tax cuts but were unable to agree on a package. He described two broad approaches debated in Topeka — limiting growth in property‑tax levies or constraining the ability of local governments to raise revenue — but said neither approach produced a compromise the legislature could enact this year.

On K‑12 funding, Little said the legislature’s budget baseline was set by the legislature’s own early budget work rather than the governor’s budget recommendation, a choice that he said produced a materially flatter baseline and contributed to deeper reductions in some proposals. He said the enacted budget included a consumer price index (CPI) increase and $10 million in new special‑education funding for each of the next two years — far short of the roughly $72 million per year some advocates had sought to increase the state share of special‑education excess cost toward the state’s target.

Little also told the board the legislature inserted fewer policy provisions into the K‑12 budget bill this year than in past sessions; lawmakers treated K‑12 as part of the regular budget rather than a vehicle for broader policy changes. He noted several pieces of legislation that passed, were vetoed or remain pending, among them:

- Senate Bill 114: removes certain barriers for nonpublic students to participate in district activities where they had previously been excluded, Little said.

- House Bill 2382: included two provisions — letting the State Board of Education increase its salary from its own budget and a requirement for certain health/human‑development courses to show a video depicting fetal development. Little said the bill was vetoed by the governor and then overridden.

- A one‑year, $10 million appropriation to the attorney general’s office for a private vendor’s firearm‑detection software; districts applying for that funding will be responsible for ongoing operating costs after the first year, he said.

Little said some controversial items did not survive the compressed process or were left to next year, including proposals about restricting some groups’ campus access and expanding refundable tax credits for private‑school tuition. He also flagged a statute change that subjects governing‑body subcommittees to the Kansas Open Records Act and Open Meetings Act.

Finally, Little described the K‑12 education task force that will study school finance reform over the coming year. The 15‑member task force includes eight legislators and seven non‑voting members and has begun reviewing other states’ formulas, special‑education excess‑cost calculations and longer‑term policy goals. Little said the panel aims to have a bill draft by the end of the year for consideration in the 2026 legislature but cautioned the formula rewrite is complex and may be approached as a multi‑year effort.

Why it matters: changes to state funding, maintenance‑of‑effort rules and statutory requirements will influence district budgets, mandates and program funding. Board members asked how reductions or federal�to‑state funding changes might affect maintenance‑of‑effort obligations and the potential need for a special session if federal funding formulas change; Little said the ultimate impact would depend on how federal funds are reallocated and that state responses were still uncertain.

Board members pressed staff on specific cuts that removed funding for professional development, mentor teachers and other programs; Little said some reductions were intentional and taken in the compressed budget process without substantive floor debate or clear rationales presented in committee.