Olathe public schools superintendent Brent Yeager objected to a Kansas House bill that would terminate a special education task force authorized by the 2023 Legislature. He said it was unnecessary to replace the special education task force with a new panel that would be placed firmly under control of Republican legislators. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)
TOPEKA — Opposition emerged from Kansas educators to a bill terminating a controversial special education task force and replacing it with a new task force dominated by state legislators who would be responsible for a lengthy study of changes to the state’s multibillion-dollar K-12 school finance formula.
House Republicans, who have registered frustration with the taxpayer cost and academic effectiveness of the state’s current school aid formula, proposed formation of the replacement task force. The bill tied to the plan would grant GOP lawmakers power to appoint six of 11 voting members of the task force and control selection of the panel’s chairman. In addition to selecting four legislators for the task force, two members chosen by the Senate president and House speaker must be parents of students in K-12 schools.