The House and Senate tomorrow (Thursday, March 31) may vote on HB 2512, which is the school funding bill, but now it also includes the so-called open enrollment provision.
That provision would require school districts to allow non-resident students to enroll and attend. Currently, students may attend a district in which they are not residents if the board of the receiving districts agrees.
Most districts, in fact, allow non-resident students, but KASB believes that decision should be made at the local level and not be required by the Legislature.
We urge local school leaders to contact their legislators to share their concerns about the open enrollment proposal and how it would affect their schools, students and parents. There are many reasons why boards may not accept nonresident students. Some parents may question why students from other districts, who are not paying taxes or fees to support the additional cost of these programs, should be allowed to benefit from them. Some parents may simply want to maintain their community schools for their community, so that all attending children have residential ties that strengthen civic cohesion.
In addition, accepting non-resident students may have a negative effect on the other district. Since this bill doesn’t provide state transportation aid for nonresident students, only families who can transport their students to other districts would benefit. As a result, this proposal could isolate the lowest-income students in the highest poverty districts. The bill also says if a district has the capacity to accept a non-resident student, it must keep that student until graduation, even if the district’s capacity changes over time.
If the House or Senate rejects this conference committee report, the conference committee would continue working on a K-12 bill. But if this conference bill is approved, it will be up to Gov. Laura Kelly to either sign it into law or veto it.
The bill also directs that up to $4 million be provided for a statewide implementation of a virtual math program and that school districts would pay for it. KASB believes this kind of requirement should be handled by the State Board of Education and local school boards.
There are other portions of the bill that KASB supports, such as the funding from the Gannon settlement, help for districts that receive federal impact aid and improving the way capital improvement state aid is determined for bond and interest aid. More information on these and other proposals is detailed in the KASB “Where We Stand” report.
Here is a video recap of today’s work on the bill.
Again, if you have concerns about how this bill — specifically the open enrollment portion — would affect your school, please contact your legislators as soon as possible. Legislators will probably be voting on the conference committee report tomorrow.
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