By EVAN DUNBAR
KU Statehouse Wire Service
TOPEKA — Friday marks the halfway point of the 2014 Kansas legislative session, better known as “turnaround.” Their chamber of origin must pass all bills, except some that are exempt, if they are to be considered during the second half of the session.
Several bills under consideration have educational implications, ranging from school sex abuse and sex education to student data and records, and new private charter schools.
Here are some notable bills in the House and Senate involving these education issues that have yet to pass in committee or on their respective chamber floors:
• House Bill 2432 would require each school district to adopt and implement a plan to address child sexual abuse for each of its schools offering grades kindergarten through six. The State Board of Education would develop materials and guidelines that local boards of education could use. The plan would require teacher training and education so teachers could be aware of child sexual abuse issues (such as identifying warning signs of sexual abuse), as well as age-appropriate student instruction that is related to child sexual abuse.
• Each district would be required to inform parents that they can review the educational materials and decide if the child should be instructed with the materials. If a parent decides that his or her child should not be taught, the parent would have to inform the school in writing. A hearing was held on the bill earlier this month, but no action has been scheduled.
• House Bill 2621 would prohibit boards of education from spending funds to implement extraneous information into a statewide longitudinal data system. The system is used to track student information over time in multiple schools. The bill states that personally identifiable information of any student or teacher “could not be provided by the State Board of Education, Department of Education, or any local school board to any federal, state or local agency, under certain circumstances.” The bill would prohibit implementing any examination or test which would collect certain data, including “data related to cognitive skills, psychological mindsets, social skills, or other intrapersonal resources,” unless written consent has been given by student’s parent or guardian.
• House Bill 2623 would require all school district building construction projects on or after Jan. 1, 2015, to include the construction of a storm shelter. The shelter would be located in the building of the new project and be designed and constructed in compliance with the rules and regulations adopted by the Adjutant General. If the building project already has an existing storm shelter, but it is not in compliance with these rules and regulations, the bill states the plans for the new project “would be required to include the remodeling or reconstruction of the existing storm shelter.” The Kansas Board of Education would be required to coordinate with the Adjutant General to develop, adopt, and enforce any of the rules and regulations. Representatives from the Department of Education said spending for the bill would be negligible because most new buildings around the state already include storm shelters. The bill was tabled by the House Education and Budget Committee on Tuesday.
• Senate Bill 211 would amend an existing law concerning elections for local governments. The bill would apply to these jurisdictions: extension districts, cities, boards of public utilities, water districts, drainage districts, irrigation districts, unified school districts, and community colleges. The bill states it would make all local elections “partisan instead of nonpartisan; move these elections from the spring of odd-numbered years to the fall of even-numbered years to coincide with national, state, and county elections; and eliminate the election of political party precinct committee positions at the August primary election.” The bill would also “eliminate ballot rotation, where candidates’ names are rotated so each candidate’s name shows at the top of the list an equal number of times through the election district.” The Senate Election Committee decided not to work on this bill Wednesday.
• Senate Bill 196 would create the Kansas Public Charter School Act, which would allow Public Charter Schools to open and operate without oversight from state laws, rules and regulations, other than those outlined in the bill. Any organization that wants to be a PCS authorizer may apply to the State Board of Education for a grant of authority. The application would be submitted in a form and manner determined by the State Board of Education.
Each authorizer would be required to report annually to the board, the governor and the legislature on the progress of the PCS. The bill would outline the information that must be submitted to the authorizer for approval of a PCS. The initial term of a charter for a PCS would be five years and a PCS would be considered part of the state’s public education system.
• Senate Bill 376 would require local boards of education to receive written consent from a parent or legal guardian before instruction on health and human sexuality is given to a student. The bill states local boards of education “must provide all instructional materials on health and human sexuality when requested by a parent or legal guardian before a decision is made to allow the student to be instructed.” The bill has no current scheduled action.
Evan Dunbar is a University of Kansas senior from Houston, majoring in journalism.