(Will be updated as warranted)
There is an effort underway to force a meeting of the special education task force that has not yet met even though it was created by the Legislature this year to study how special education could be better funded.
A majority of the task force – only one Democratic lawmakers is part of the group – is calling a meeting of the task force this Thursday in the old Supreme Court room of the Capitol from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
It is calling the meeting despite the fact that Republican state Rep. Kristey Williams, chair of the special committee on education and a member of the task force, has indicated she would not convene the task force.
The members say they have the authority to call the task force meeting under Mason’s Manual of Legislative Procedure.
They cite a section that says, “It is the duty of the chair to call the committee together, but if the chair is absent or neglects or declines to call a meeting of the committee, a meeting may be held on the call of the majority members of the committee.”
The law creating the task force required the panel to study and make recommendations for changes in the existing formula for the funding of special education and related services.
The task force was required to conduct hearings in order to receive and consider suggestions from subject matter experts and the public at large.
The task force is required to submit reports to the Legislature about its work by Jan. 14 of each year.
The task force’s proposed agenda includes studying and making recommendations to changing the formula for funding special education.
It plans to invite the Kansas Association of School Boards, the Association of Kansas Special Education Directors and the Kansas Parent Teacher Association, among others.
The six task force members calling the meeting were Democratic state Rep. Valdenia Winn of Kansas City, State School Board President Melanie Haas, Olathe Schools Superintendent Brent Yeager and Kansas Teacher of the Year Brian Skinner.
The other members wanting a meeting were early childhood educator Monica Ross and Katherine Kersenbrock-Ostmeyer, director of special education at the Northwest Kansas Educational Service Center.
No other legislator has agreed to call the meeting.
There has been frustration over the fact that a meeting of the task force has not been called even after appointments to the panel were made.
There have been ongoing efforts to fully fund special education under state law. But they have fallen short, leading to demands for the task force.
Earlier this year, Gov. Laura Kelly recommended putting $72.4 million a year for five years into special education to comply with the state law that requires the state to cover 92% of the excess cost of providing special education.
The Legislature passed a budget that funds special education at its $528 million base plus $7.5 million in 2024 and $15 million in 2025, just a fraction of what Kelly had proposed for special education.
Some Democratic critics noted that Williams supported the idea of a special education task force initially but accused her of changing her mind when the composition of the committee became known,
Republican lawmakers have questioned the value of the special education task force, saying that they believe it is only intended to put more money into education.
“There’s a drum beat to have a special education task force,” said Republican state Sen. Renee Erickson of Wichita.
She recently told the special joint committee on education that the groups that want the task force only want to spend more money.
“We do not need a special education task force meeting to consider their position,” Erickson told the panel Oct. 10.
“They did not bring to the table anything else for the task force to spend their time and energy looking into,” Erickson said.
“We have their input, which is just more money. We don’t need a task force to convene to discuss that.”
Erickson said special education is being funded locally and the state is being asked to backfill local school district budgets.
“The perception is those kids aren’t getting the services they need and they are, and our school districts do a really good job with that,” she said.
Erickson said lawmakers should move forward and look at how the school finance formula can be adjusted to address the education.
In a statement, the group said a failure to call the task force because of concerns of what might be said at the meeting raises free speech concerns.
“Multiple requests, both verbal and via email, by members of the task force to the initially authorized chair member to call the (task force) to order and conduct the statutorily mandated hearing have gone unanswered,” the group said.
Public school advocates say the state is not complying with state law for funding special education in Kansas.
The Kansas Association of School Boards said that under Kansas law, the state is supposed to pick up 92% of the “excess cost” of special education not covered by federal aid.
The organization said the state hasn’t met that commitment since 2011. For the current
school year, the state is at 69% and is expected to drop further.
It said that shortfalls in state and federal aid force school districts to transfer funding from general education programs for all students to make up for underfunding in special education.
The Senate’s top Democrat, Dinah Sykes, said she has been frustrated by the refusal to call a hearing.
Sykes raised the issue at the Oct. 3 meeting of the special joint committee on education, asking why the committee hasn’t met.
“When is it going to be called?” Sykes asked. “Those appointments were made early. Why have we not proceeded?”
She said the task force should have held a meeting before the special legislative education committee took up the issue at a meeting on Oct. 9.
Williams said she thought there was only one position on special education.
“And that is simply add more money to it,” she said.
Sykes said Williams was making assumptions about the views of the task force members.
Sykes said her appointment to the task force is looking for new and different ways to address special education funding.
Williams said the Republican House caucus was “supremely” well educated on the special education issue.
At one point, Sykes challenged Williams’ comments that she had educated her caucus on the issue. Williams cut her off.
Williams said an interim committee held two days of meetings on special education.
“I’m not going to go reinvent the wheel,” Williams said. “I am not going to go reinvent the wheel on all of those things that we did last session and last year pre session.”
