KASB Live Podcast Kansas Association of School Boards

Welcome back to The Advocate!

Leah Fliter and Shannon Kimball discuss the recently passed K-12 Budget bill, SB 387, which fully funds the Gannon formula and provides an additional $75 million in state funding to special education. The team also looks back at the successful lobbying efforts for public education earlier this year. Though the regular legislative session has ended, Governor Laura Kelly could call everyone back due to not reaching an agreement on a state tax cut bill. Thank you, Leah and Shannon, for your work this session!

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Join Mark Tallman, Dr. Bret Church, and Dr. Jessica Dain as they discuss the Kansas Teacher Retention Initiative. KTRI offers insights into the reasons for the state's teacher shortage and possible pointers for helping retain and recruit future teachers. 

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Tune in for the latest from Leah and Shannon at the Statehouse! 

This week, they cover House Sub for SB 387, enrollment count and literacy bills in the Senate and the conference committees that will begin meeting next week. 

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In this episode, Leah & Shannon discuss the recent Day at the Capitol hosted by KASB, which brought together advocates from across the state to meet with their legislators and share their stories about the successes of public education. They also discuss the upcoming debate over the K-12 Education Budget bill and how the legislature is trying to attempt to give the façade of a fully funded special education by diverting local tax dollars through SB 387. 

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Leah and Shannon cover SB 387, the K-12 education budget. SB 387 has numerous controversial provisions, including counting local taxes as part of SPED funding.

Also, join us on March 21 for KASB's Day at the Capitol! This event brings public education advocates together to tell the story of public education at the capitol and meet with their legislators. Register here!

In this episode, Mark is joined by administrative staff from the Haysville and Salina school districts to discuss chronic absenteeism and how they have been working to reduce the rate.

During the COVID pandemic, chronic absenteeism was reaching all-time highs; now that we are on the other side, districts must work diligently to bring students back into the classroom. Listen as these districts share their methods and insights on how they have successfully reduced chronic absenteeism rates and continue to do so.

Read Mark's article here: Haysville and Salina Reduce Chronic Absenteeism Using Parent Outreach and Support