Committee reviews Kansas State School for the Blind budget, hears capital and pay-parity requests

The Committee on K-12 Education Budget reviewed the Kansas State School for the Blind (KSSB) budget and heard testimony from KLRD fiscal staff and Superintendent John Harding about enrollment, outreach, capital needs and personnel costs. KLRD staff said the agency’s FY26 approved State General Fund (SGF) amount is $8,300,000 and all funds total $14,200,000; the agency’s FY27 request, including enhancements, would raise the all‑funds figure to about $14,607,434.

KLRD senior fiscal analyst Jennifer Light told the committee that shorthand documents before members show the special committee on the state budget removed many agency enhancement requests and that House Bill 2434 is the appropriations bill introduced today. “House Bill 2434 is the appropriations bill,” Light said, explaining the shorthand marks changes relative to the agency request and that items labeled “action reversed” were not added by the special committee.

Why it matters: committee members will recommend whether to restore any of the removed enhancements before the committee reports its budget to appropriations. Light said two KSSB enhancement requests — a SIBF roof replacement of roughly $718,000 and an inflation adjustment for rehab…