Greenbush education service center tells House committee it provides professional development, special‑education and payroll services to small districts

Representatives from Greenbush Southeast Education Service Center told the House Education Committee in Topeka that the interlocal service center provides professional development, direct student services and operational supports for school districts across Kansas, including payroll services for small districts that lack local capacity.

Randy Korns, executive director of Greenbush, introduced the service center and said the organization was founded in 1976 and operates as both a service center and an interlocal entity. He invited Stacy Clarkson, Greenbush associate, to outline the center's core functions.

Clarkson told the committee Greenbush “primarily help[s] districts with things that they've asked us to help them with” and summarized three core services: professional development for teachers (including structured literacy/LETTERS training in partnership with the Kansas State Department of Education), direct student services such as a special‑purpose school and deaf/audiology work, and operational supports including short‑term payroll services when districts experience staffing turnover. She said Greenbush has partnered with KSDE on literacy training and runs a teacher‑leader cadre and leadership training for educators.

On operational supports, Greenbush staff said they already provide payroll processing and related HR services for several small districts and partner with other agencies and service centers to extend capacity; Clarkson said the center’s FTE count is “right about 500, give or take” in a typical month, and that the organization serves districts across a broad geography rather than a single county. Korns and Clarkson also described a partnership with Russell Child Development Center in Garden City in which Greenbush serves as the employing entity for certain services.

Committee members asked about efficiencies and whether a service center should take over payroll for small districts; Greenbush said it already performs that function for multiple small districts. Representative questions also touched on literacy programming, the center’s statewide footprint and collaboration with postsecondary institutions (Clarkson said she had met with Pittsburg State University about partnering on literacy instruction).

Greenbush representatives said they were available for questions and expected to appear at future committee budget discussions. The committee then moved on to a hearing on Senate Bill 87.