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House Education Committee reconsiders Senate Bill 114, removes 5‑unit amendment and advances bill
Summary
The House Education Committee voted to remove an amendment that would have required students to pass five units during a prior semester and then recommended Senate Bill 114 favorably as amended after brief debate and a recorded request by several members to be noted.
At a House Education Committee meeting in Topeka, members voted to reconsider prior committee changes to Senate Bill 114, strike a recently adopted amendment that required students to demonstrate academic progress by passing at least five units in the semester before participation, and then recommended SB 114 favorably for passage as amended.
The action came after Chairwoman Estes said the committee had “done something that we shouldn't have done,” referring to earlier language that the chair said could be construed as an improper delegation of the committee's authority. Committee staff member Jason explained that the motion under consideration would remove the amendment (referred to in the handout as “balloon amendment number 3”) that required a student participating in the program to take an activity not offered by the school they regularly attend and to show academic progress by passing not fewer than five units in the immediately preceding semester.
Committee debate was brief. Representative McNorton moved to reconsider SB 114 and later moved to recommend the bill favorably as amended; Representative Pishni seconded the reconsideration and Representative Hill seconded the recommendation. Representative Stogstill spoke against recommending the bill, calling the measure “legislative overreach” and saying the Kansas State Board of Education or local districts could address the issue instead. After the final motion to recommend SB 114 as amended, the chair called for the ayes and declared the ayes to have it. Several members asked to be recorded on the vote: Representative Stogstill, Representative Winn, Representative Ruiz, Representative Featherston and Representative Miller.
The committee's actions removed the five‑unit requirement and the conforming statutory change tied to that provision; Jason (committee staff) said the other amendments previously adopted would remain unless separately reconsidered. The record does not show a roll‑call tally for the committee recommendation in the transcript excerpt; committee members who spoke against the recommendation were noted on the record.
The committee then moved on to other business, including a scheduled presentation by Greenbush Southeast Education Service Center.
Details from the transcript: the contested provision (balloon amendment #3) required that a student participate in activity not offered by the school they regularly attend and demonstrate academic progress by passing “not fewer than 5 units” in the semester immediately preceding the semester of participation; the committee voted to strike that change so it would not appear in the bill if passed out of committee.
