For Immediate Release:         
April 26, 2023
          
Contact:         
Cassie Nichols
[email protected]

ICYMI: K-12 Funding Most Important Remaining Legislative Issue

KEY QUOTE: "I think it would be helpful if people in our local communities would get in touch with their legislators to express their support for fully funding our schools and special education and encouraging them to act quickly to get this done," Governor Kelly said.

K-12 funding most important remaining legislative issue
Leslie Eikleberry, Salina Post
April 26, 2023

As Kansas Governor Laura Kelly sees it, K-12 funding is the most important issue left in this legislative session. And as legislators return to the statehouse this week to close out the 2023 session, Kelly is hopeful that lawmakers will see the need to fully fund K-12 public schools, as has been done the past four years.
The 2024 budget Kelly presented in January included fully funding K-12 schools for the fifth year in a row. Additionally, Kelly included $72.4 million from the State General Fund as the first installment of a proposed five-year plan to raise state aid for special education to 92 percent by fiscal year 2028. An additional $72.4 million from the State General Fund would be dedicated to special education each subsequent year of the plan.
Thus far, Kansas lawmakers have had other ideas, proposing a measure that could decrease aid to school districts across the state and not include a funding increase for special education. As an example, Kelly said the three public school districts in Saline County combined would lose more than $5 million.
"Just look at our past history. We have fully funded the schools for the last four years. And I know that there are a lot of legislators, particularly those in the rural areas, who understand how bad the legislative proposal is there, to those schools, because all of these moves would be most detrimental to the rural school districts," Governor Kelly said.

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