The governor opposes the bill despite one of its pieces meeting a policy priority

TOPEKA — A contingent of Kansas Republicans narrowly advanced a bill that would increase scrutiny of households that qualify for free and reduced lunch, but it fielded pushback from Democrats and fellow Republicans.

One of those Republicans said during a debate Wednesday that his colleagues were overreaching in their attempt to make schools ask for legislative approval to participate in a federal free meal program.

Senate Bill 387 also would require schools to verify the household income of every student that applies for free lunch. A provision added last week proposes paying the copays for families who qualify for reduced lunch, a policy priority of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, who opposes the bill nonetheless.

Sen. Joe Claeys, a Salina Republican, tried to remove the legislative approval requirement. He reminded the Senate that the federal program that allows high-poverty schools to offer free meals to the entire student body, is between the federal government and local school boards.

“They know the needs of their community, and that’s why they’re elected locally,” Claeys said.

He also tried to add a new element to the bill requiring state auditors to take a comprehensive look at the tie between eligibility for the national school lunch program and funding for students at risk of academic failure.

Claeys said Kansas has a chronic problem: Legislators make consequential policy decisions without the data to back them up and then act surprised when the outcomes don’t match purported intentions.

The bill ignores recommendations from a previous audit to find a different way to calculate how much state funds should be allocated to at-risk students. The number of students who qualify for the federal lunch program is currently used as a proxy for determining at-risk funding.

Sen. Doug Shane, a Louisburg Republican who sponsored the bill, admitted it doesn’t “fix the flaws” in the definition of at-risk students.

Sen. Mike Thompson, a Shawnee Republican, said Claeys’ proposal would hamstring the state’s auditing committee, which Thompson chairs. Mandating an audit circumvents the Legislative Post Audit Committee process, which hinges on the amount of time and bandwidth auditors have, he said.

“It could blow up the legislative post audit process,” Thompson said.

He called Claeys’ amendment dangerous.

“If that’s the process you don’t want to break, I want to break it,” Claeys responded.

Both of his amendments failed, but Claeys ultimately voted “yes” on the bill, voicing support for addressing a flawed formula even if colleagues didn’t agree with him.

“The one piece of data we do have is the proxy doesn’t work,” he said, “and that’s still an issue.”

Amendments from two Democrats failed as well.

The bill moved out of the Senate with 22 in favor and 18 against. It must pass the Republican-majority House before reaching the governor’s desk. A spokesperson for the governor told Kansas Reflector last week the bill “will jeopardize millions in school funding and result in more children going hungry.”

Shane’s initial proposal, which the Senate Committee on Government Efficiency heard last month, caught flak for burdening school administrators with new expectations and without added funding. He was adamant that the bill did not take food from hungry Kansas children.

Shane added the provision to cover copays for households that qualify for reduced lunch after the bill’s hearing. He estimated it would cost the state around $2.5 million.

The bill didn’t include an estimate of how much the extra income verification step would cost schools., which raised alarm bells for Democrats and Republicans alike. Some school districts estimated verifying income would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Shane said he wasn’t convinced the cost would be so significant.

Republican Sen. Mike Argabright, a former educator and school superintendent from Olpe, didn’t agree with Shane’s modest fiscal characterization. He said it was important for people to know what schools must go through to stand the bill up. Argabright, who voted against the bill, also wasn’t convinced the bill’s provisions were the right fix for the issue at hand.

“I don’t think another layer of required government expectations fix(es) this,” he said.

The original version of the bill would have required schools to verify the income of all households that qualify for free meals. It didn’t take into consideration the two ways students can qualify now. Households can either apply for the national program based on their income, or students can be directly certified because of their involvement in other public programs such as Medicaid, the foster care system or federal cash assistance.

Shane specified for the first time Wednesday the income verification requirement would only pertain to families who apply based on income.

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.

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