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Conference negotiators modify education package: special education, childcare accelerator and one-time school-safety detection funding discussed
Summary
Committee members negotiated changes to the education package (Package A), restoring and deleting various items including special education aid, reallocating toiletry-kit funding toward a childcare accelerator grant, and clarifying a one-time 2025 school-safety detection appropriation and district subscription responsibilities.
Conference negotiators reviewed the education package (Package A), trading proposals on special education state aid, a childcare-accelerator grant for a 24/7 facility in southwest Kansas, and a one-time school safety detection appropriation.
Special education and other K-12 items: negotiators returned to a prior position to fund $10 million for special education in one year and discussed eliminating or restoring other items that had moved between the house and senate offers. Committee members noted changes to mentorship, computer science advancement grants and teacher excellence items, and several line items were described as deleted or restored depending on prior offers.
Childcare accelerator and toiletry kits: members said they removed an earlier allocation for toiletry kits (about $1.8 million SGF) and moved approximately $1 million of that SGF allocation into a childcare accelerator grant and added a 250,000 CIF (Community Investment Fund) amount, for a total of $1.25 million referenced for a proposed childcare facility in southwest Kansas that would operate 24/7 as a public–private partnership.
School safety detection funding: negotiators described a modification to a school-safety detection program (Safe and Secure) to provide a one-time $10 million SGF appropriation for fiscal 2025 only, with the funding reappropriable into fiscal 2026 if unexpended. Members clarified that continuing subscriptions or district-level ongoing costs would be the responsibility of individual school districts after the one-time purchase period.
Administrative notes and next steps: committee members asked staff to include specific bill language to flag funds that are outside the state funding formula and to add an asterisk in certain publications to indicate amounts that are above general formula funding. Staff were asked to prepare the text changes and confirm funding movements in the final conference draft.
