School board leaders tell K-12 budget committee special-education shortfalls are forcing districts to cut elsewhere

Leah Fleiter, a representative of the Kansas Association of School Boards, told the Committee on K-12 Education Budget that KASB members spent the day in Topeka advocating a legislative policy adopted by locally elected school board members across the state. "KASB is a 5 0 1 c 4 organization that represents 2 85 school districts in the state of Kansas, and that's about 2,000 locally elected school board members," Fleiter said, noting her organization’s legislative committee sets the association’s priorities.

Board members from a range of districts described how incomplete state special-education funding is affecting other parts of their budgets. "We have nearly 25% of our students in Special Ed," a Topeka Public Schools board representative said, and added that her district was "backfilling nearly $43,000,000 over what we're given by the state." Jason Sullen, a board member from South Brown County USD 430, and Jared Meitler, board president of USD 323…