Governor Kelly signs early childhood executive order. PHOTO CREDIT: Office of Governor Laura Kelly

Governor Laura Kelly kicked off the start of her second term by signing Executive Order 23-01, establishing the Early Childhood Transition Task Force. The task force will review existing programs and develop a roadmap for creating a new state, cabinet-level agency focused solely on supporting the State's youngest citizens.

"Yesterday, I laid out a vision for my next four years, to make Kansas the best place in America to raise a family. Today we are taking a significant step forward in pursuit of that goal," Governor Kelly said. "Giving Kansas kids the strongest start to life is the best possible investment we can make. This task force will determine how to make that investment most effectively."

Melissa Rooker, executive director of the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund, said, "The pandemic revealed the challenges in our current system, and we are excited to go to work developing an action plan to address barriers, gaps, and opportunities to serve our youngest Kansans more effectively."

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that addressing workforce challenges related to child care is a top priority.

"Almost every business owner I talk to is struggling to find people to work for them. There are a number of factors; a key is the lack of available child care," said Curtis Sneden, president, Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce. "It's complicated enough that there won't be some one bill in the Legislature that solves it, but there are initiatives that can be undertaken at the policy level and out in the marketplace to try to bring more child care capacity on board."  

A Kansas Chamber poll of business leaders found that "65% agree that a lack of access to childcare keeps Kansans out of the workforce."

Next week, Governor Mike Parson will deliver his annual State of the State address to the Missouri General Assembly. Advocates expect a strong focus on investments in child care.

Kudos to our two great states for prioritizing our children!

Former Missouri Treasurer and House Budget Chair Scott Fitzpatrick was sworn into his new role as Missouri Auditor. At the ceremony he took aim at student test scores and said auditing public schools is a top priority.

State law mandates that public schools conduct annual audits and submit findings to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The audits are generally financial in scope. For example, previous Democratic auditors, Claire McCaskill and Susan Montee, conducted a series of audits of DESE that examined high school graduation rates, educator background checks, and school district purchasing practices, to name a few.

The idea of auditing student performance has gained traction in recent years. In 2021, the Colorado General Assembly passed a bill ordering a performance audit of the state's accountability system to determine if the system helps or hurts underperforming students. Findings released in 2022 suggested that the system provides a “reasonable and appropriate basis” for measuring school performance but some critics argued the audit lacked the complexity to determine whether the state accountability system adequately serves students.

Fun Fact: At 35, Fitzpatrick is the youngest statewide elected official in the United States. Former U.S. Senator Kit Bond was 32 when he began serving as treasurer.

Status Report - Aligned Priorities

Early Childhood

HB 118 (Shields) - Raising the FRL threshold from 4% to 10% to allow districts and charters to claim additional state aid for Pre-K. Read Second Time (1-5-23) NO CHANGE

SB 18 (Arthur) - same as HB 118. Referred to Senate Committee on Education and Workforce Development on 1-12-23.

The Missouri Early Childhood Steering Committee will hold its final meeting next week in Jefferson City to discuss feedback and finalize recommendations and strategies for closing the gaps in access for early care and education.

Teacher Recruitment and Retention

HB 190 (Lewis) - Allows school districts to create differentiated teacher salary schedules. Read Second Time (1-5-23) NO CHANGE

HB 497 (Lewis) - Modifies the Urban Flights and Rural Needs Scholarship Program. Read Second Time (1-5-23) NO CHANGE

This bill changes the scholarship to make it a two-year scholarship for students who have completed the first two years of an educator prep program and gradually increases the number of scholarships available for each year.

School Finance Reform

SB 17 (Arthur) - Modifies terms used in the elementary and secondary school funding formula. Referred to Senate Committee on Education and Workforce Development on 1-12-23.

Read our full legislative report.

The House Education Committee introduced legislation that would allow districts to use their current year enrollment to receive state aid, as opposed to using the highest of the past two years.

The Senate Education Committee received information from Deputy Education Commissioner Craig Neuenswander on school funding by weightings, enrollment, and licensed employees and staff. State senators had numerous questions, and Neuenswander will return to the committee next week to provide more information.

The committee also introduced a bill that deals with the classification of schools for Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) activities. KSHSAA has proposed applying a multiplier formula to Kansas private schools that inflate their enrollment totals for classification purposes for all school KSHSAA activities. Factors determining the multiplier include school location, socio-economic status, and past championship experience.

At the State Board of Education, in 6-4 votes, Melanie Haas, D-Overland Park, was elected chairwoman, and Jim Porter, R-Fredonia, was elected vice chair. In addition, Deena Horst, R-Salina, and Ann Mah, D-Topeka, were elected legislative liaisons. The 10-member board seated three new members, conservative Republicans Dennis Hershberger of Hutchinson, Cathy Hopkins of Hays, and Danny Zeck, of Leavenworth.

Governor Kelly released her budget for this legislative session on Thursday. The House and Senate budget committees did little work during this first week of session, in part waiting for the budget to be released. The Legislature will have its own Research Department staff analyze the new budget and create reports for committee members to use during their deliberations.

The $24.1 billion budget does have a positive ending balance, includes tax breaks, and funds education.

Highlights of the Governor Budget include:

• Sales tax cuts and putting $500 million in the “rainy day fund” are the issues that the Governor is touting the most in her budget.
• $220 million for infrastructure spending to compliment possible federal infrastructure spending to be used for local or regional projects.
• Retiring of state debt early by using $53 million to pay down debt the Kansas Water Office has in reservoir water storage fees to the federal government.
• Expanding Medicaid.
• Increases for the foster care program.
• Continued funding for the new veteran’s home in northeast Kansas.
• Enhanced funding for the newly developed micro internship program for Kansas business and new Office of Apprenticeship.
• $3 million for enhanced marketing campaign focused on workforce and recruiting talent to Kansas
• Childcare and housing programs get some increases in funding as part of workforce development.
• Statewide 5% increase in state employee pay to be more competitive with the marketplace and a new workforce marketplace study.
• Increased funding for cybersecurity to address various cybersecurity issues that came up with unemployment insurance claims at the Department of Labor, as well as other issues in other agencies.

The Governor says this budget does have increased overall spending, but at a much lower level than the rate of inflation – all while fully funding K-12 education and securing KPERS for state employee retirees. To learn more specifics on the Governor’s budget click here.

Both House and Senate budget committees will start reporting out their own budget recommendations around the first part of February. Republicans have already voiced concerns about spending the $53 million on water storage debt, saying it might be better to pay off other debt with that money. They also have raised concerns about the way special education funding is determined and allocated to local schools.

More differences will undoubtedly come up during the budget process this session.

See the education budget explainer.

Aligned's Garrett Webb and Linda Rallo at Greater St. Louis, Inc.

This morning, Aligned attended the first public policy speaker series at Greater St. Louis Inc., the region's business chamber. Featured guests included Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher, Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, and Assistant Minority Floor Leader Doug Beck.

Lawmakers addressed top concerns and priorities for the legislative session, including addressing public safety, how to invest the state's surplus, tax incentives for business, and strengthening our child care system. After years of advocacy, we are thrilled to see early childhood at the top of everyone's list.

Cheers!

Torree Pederson

President

Aligned

Torree@WeAreAligned.org

(913) 484-4202

Linda Rallo

Vice President

Aligned

Linda@WeAreAligned.org

(314) 330-8442