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Minutes for SB341 - Committee on Education
Short Title
Providing requirements for agreements between a school district and a postsecondary educational institution for the provision of postsecondary courses taught in secondary schools.
Minutes Content for Thu, Jan 22, 2026
Chairman Erickson opened the hearing on SB341. Tamera Lawrence, Assistant Revisor, Office of the Revisor of Statutes, gave a brief overview of the bill and stood for questions. (Attachment 15)
Proponent:
Heather Morgan, Executive Director, Kansas Association of Community Colleges, said this bill is a comprised effort to address the concerns which have been repeatedly raised by legislators regarding potentially paying for similar items in both the K-12 and post-secondary system. SB341 establishes clear, consistent and transparent requirements for agreements between school districts and community colleges or technical colleges when post-secondary courses are taught in secondary schools by district employed teachers. (Attachment 16)
Proponent Written Only:
Claudia Fury-Aguirre, Manager, Kansas Policy and Outreach, Aligned (Attachment 17)
Neutral:
Blake Flanders, President and CEO, Kansas Board of Regents, provided some background on the funding streams to assist with understanding this bill. It is a policy question for legislators to determine to what extent a high school student taking a college course during the school day should count within the state K-12 funding formula and to what extent the Legislature wants to support high school students taking technical courses at the colleges. This bill would establish new requirements for future agreements. An new or renegotiated agreements must comply with this bill's requirements.(Attachment 18)
Matt Lindsey, President, Kansas Independent College Association, said the definitions in this bill indicate it is applicable to agreements with community and technical colleges only. It was requested that some language be added to the bill. Specifically, at the end of Section 1 to be added:
"(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to include any accredited independent institution, as defined in K.S.A. 72-3222, and amendments thereto." (Attachment 19)
Neutral Written Only:
Susan Willis, Government Liaison, Wichita Public Schools, USD 259 (Attachment 20)
Opponent:
Leah Fliter, Assistant Executive Director of Advocacy, Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB), opposes the bill as currently written. The concerns are three-fold:
- Local Boards of Education should have the authority over agreements with post-secondary partners.
- As currently written, this bill interferes with each local school district's individually negotiated agreement with its teacher bargaining unit.
- It would artificially cap compensation for K-12 teachers who teach dual/concurrent enrollment classes at secondary institutions. KASB opposes any such barrier to recruiting and retaining quality educators to our public schools. (Attachment 21)
Discussion followed.
Chairman Erickson closed the hearing on SB341.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:16 pm.
The next Senate Education Committee meeting will be held January 26, 2026, 1:30 pm in Room 144-S for a budget hearing for the Kansas State School for the Deaf and the Kansas State School for the Blind.
