Educate Andover

03/31/2022

***Tomorrow(Thursday, March 31) the House and Senate may vote on HB 2512, which is the school funding bill, but now it also includes the so-called open enrollment provision***
This provision would require Andover schools to accept non-resident students. The bill also says that once enrolled in our district, a student can stay until graduation.

If the House or Senate rejects this conference committee report, the conference committee would continue working on a K-12 bill. But if this conference bill is approved, it will be up to Gov. Laura Kelly to either sign it into law or veto it.

If you have concerns about how this bill will affect Andover students, please contact your legislators as soon as possible.

Ty Masterson 785-296-2419 [email protected]
Renee Erickson 785-296-7476 [email protected]
Susan Humphries 785 296-7699 [email protected]
Susan Estes 785 296-7388 [email protected]
Kristey Williams 785 296-397. [email protected]
Patrick Penn 785 296-7473. [email protected]

03/28/2022

***Update on important legislation requiring Andover schools to accept out of district students***

Last week, Senate Bill 455 passed 23-16. House Bill 2615 passed 63-59 (3 absent votes). All legislators representing the Andover school district voted in favor: Senator Renee Erickson, Senator Ty Masterson, Representatives: Susan Humphries, Kristey Williams, Susan Estes and Patrick Penn.

SB 455 and HB 2615 have substantive differences. The House bill would be less restrictive to our district than the Senate bill. For example, the Senate version allows out of district students (once admitted) to stay in our schools until graduation and requires two open enrollment periods each year instead of one.

This week the bills go to conference committee where the bills will be reconciled. After reconciliation, each chamber will again vote on the legislation. If the reconciled bill passes both chambers, it goes to the Governor who can veto. 27 votes are required in the Senate and 84 votes would be required in the house to override the veto.

03/23/2022

***IMPORTANT LEGISLATIVE VOTE TOMORROW
(3-23-22) AFFECTING ANDOVER SCHOOLS***

House Bill 2615 – (Like SB 455 which passed today in the Senate) allows out of district students to attend Andover schools:
• Andover schools can set a capacity limit, but once students are accepted, they must be allowed to continue which could create capacity problems in the future.
• These non-residents would not pay our property taxes to support our local $188 million dollar bond issue for our facilities.
• Our district would be responsible for the additional costs of special education services.

There is still time to contact our legislators:
Susan Humphries [email protected]
785 296-7699
Susan Estes [email protected]
785 296-7388
Kristey Williams [email protected]
785 296-397
Patrick Penn [email protected]
785 296-7473

03/22/2022

The Senate will vote today on SB 455 which will allow out of district students to attend Andover schools. Here is the debate from yesterday - at 41:45 you can view (our own representative) Renee Erickson. She says she has heard from Andover constituents as well as the Andover Superintendent and believes we are all elitist. No Senator Erickson - this is about fair tax policy.

Subscribe to See Your Government at Work—Live!Agenda:http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2021_22/chamber/documents/daily_calendar_senate_20220318135344.pdf

03/22/2022

Tomorrow, the state house will hear HB 2553 (companion bill to SB 455) which would allow K-12 students to transfer to another district up to their capacity. Just like SB 455, we oppose this bill because of the different taxation levels between sending and receiving districts.

The following house members represent the Andover School District:

Susan Humphries [email protected]
785 296-7699

Susan Estes [email protected]
785 296-7388

Kristy Williams [email protected]
785-296-397

Patrick Penn [email protected]
785 296-7473

03/21/2022

***IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED***

The Kansas Senate is scheduled to vote this afternoon to allow out of district students to attend Andover schools. SB455“Allowing K-12 students to transfer to and attend school in any school district in the state”

Please contact our Senators immediately that and tell them that this bill is not fair to Andover taxpayers:

Ty Masterson 785-296-2419 [email protected]

Renee Erickson 785-296-7476 [email protected]

• Once enrolled, this bill allows an out of district student to stay in our school until high school graduation.
• It is impossible for a growing district like Andover to set a cap and accurately predict the number of empty seats that will be available at any one time during the year.
• Local control means that Andover schools should be free to decide if they want to take out of district students.

03/15/2022

IMPORTANT LEGISLATIVE ALERT AFFECTING ANDOVER SCHOOLS

SB455 - "Allowing K-12 students to transfer to and attend school in any school district in the state" is being discussed Tuesday, March 15 and Wednesday, March 16 in the Senate Education Committee. Please contact members of the committee in the link below.

This bill is especially detrimental to the taxpayers in the Andover Public Schools district. Andover schools have a long-standing policy to restrict enrollment to those families who pay local taxes in the district to support our schools, our facilities, and our community growth.

Andover has a growing enrollment, and it is a challenge for the district to keep up staffing to meet current growth. Enrollment increases throughout the year as new housing areas open, and families move into our district. It would be very difficult for Andover schools to set a "cap" on enrollment (as required in this bill) at any one point in time.

If a child transfers to Andover during the year, we would not see the state funding for that child (the “home” district for that child would receive the funding).

Renee Erickson is a Vice Chair of this committee and represents eastern parts of Andover School District.

Here’s a link to all the committee members:



http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2021_22/committees/ctte_s_ed_1/

02/25/2022

"Now that Thursday’s “turnaround” has come and gone, we must be more vigilant to watch the shell game unfold. We are reaching the point in session where bills get bundled together or amended in committees or amendments get added on the chamber floors. A seemingly harmless bill can turn terrible in a matter of minutes."://underthedomeks.org/playing-the-waiting-game-before-the-shell-game-begins/

Playing the Waiting Game Before the Shell Game Begins Posted by Angela Deines | Feb 24, 2022 | Uncategorized Now is the time for vigilance in watching for the contents of bad education bills By KNEA Government Relations and Communications We have officially reached the mid-point of the 2022 Kansas l...