The Lawrence school board on Monday will consider approving a list of several requests the district will ask the Kansas Legislature to honor this year.
Legislative priorities are set and approved annually ahead of the Legislature’s session, which begins in January.
At the previous board meeting on Oct. 20, member Kelly Jones said the policy committee had recently created a draft for consideration at the subsequent meeting.
According to the draft, the district’s top priorities include the following:
• Fully fund special education, as required by state law;
• Increase the base state aid per pupil enough to close the 25% educator pay gap and helps local districts achieve competitive wages;
• Push back against the privatization of education, rejecting proposals to spend public tax dollars on vouchers and other direct and indirect avenues that fund private schools;
• Protect local control for districts;
• Reject calls to limit state control over content, materials and methods teachers use to teach;
• Return local control to local school boards;
• Repeal and reject discriminatory statutes that target and discriminate against staff and students; and
• Provide universal free meals.
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Many of the 2025-26 priorities listed are repeats from the 2024-25 year. For example, the Legislature in spring 2025 allocated zero new dollars to special education for the current year, continuing a trend of inadequate funding that causes the district to pull from its general fund.
The draft also expands on the priorities in attempt to show alignment with the district’s strategic plan.
See the full draft attached to the agenda item on BoardDocs.
In other business
• Pinckney report: The board will hear a report regarding Community Connections at Pinckney, where specialized programs, including the Community Transition (C-Tran) program for young adults with disabilities.
No details about the report were included on the agenda item as of Friday morning.
• Executive sessions: Two separate 30-minute executive sessions, or closed-door meetings, are set for the beginning of the meeting Monday.
The first is to discuss potential litigation with the district legal counsel Greg Goheen, with no action to follow. Superintendent Jeanice Swift and Deputy Superintendent Larry Englebrick are invited to be present with the board.
The second is to discuss personnel matters, with possible action to follow. Swift, Englebrick and Goheen in addition to Samrie Devin, acting assistant superintendent and human resources administrator, are invited to be present with the board.
Meeting info
The board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 27 at district offices, 110 McDonald Drive.
Meetings are open to the public, livestreamed on the district’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/@USD497, and broadcast on Midco channel 26. Full meeting agendas are available on BoardDocs, via go.boarddocs.com.
To give public comment, sign up by noon the day of the meeting by emailing PublicComment@usd497.org. Commenters may request to participate by Webex video/phone conferencing.
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Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
