Kansas lawmakers are on their annual break and will return next week to vote on potentially overriding the governor’s vetoes.

Kansas lawmakers wrapped up the majority of their work at the end of March, including passing a number of bills related to schools.

Here’s an update on some of those key bills ahead of lawmakers’ return to Topeka for the annual veto session:

Gov. Laura Kelly has now signed a cell phone ban in K-12 schools into law. What will that look like? 

Kansas has adopted what’s commonly known as a bell-to-bell cell phone ban, which means students can’t have their phones from the first bell until dismissal.

That’s different from the policy in place at many local school districts, since high schoolers won’t be able to use their phones during passing periods, either.

Under the new law, students will have to store their phones in a secure, inaccessible location during the day.

Exactly what that looks like will be different from school to school, and the bill doesn’t give districts any money for storing phones.

What’s the latest on funding for Kansas schools? 

Lawmakers have passed a budget they say fully funds schools according to the state constitution. That budget still awaits action from the governor.

But there is still a problem: special education is chronically underfunded in Kansas.

A growing shortfall for special education means school districts have to pull from general education budgets to bridge the gap.

“Our school district costs have gone up, but the federal government is not doing its part to pay for special education services — and neither is the state,” said Leah Fliter with the Kansas Association of School Boards.

Lawmakers are also in the process of crafting a new funding formula for general education because the current one expires in July of next year. But the task force charged with researching a new formula hasn’t met since the fall, so it could be a while before there is any significant progress.

Are there education bills that haven’t made it out of both chambers so far this year?

There was a big push by Republican leaders to make school districts verify the income of families who qualify for free meals.

Districts get more money from the state based on how many students qualify, and some lawmakers think there are discrepancies. It passed the Senate by a slim margin but didn’t get a vote in the House.

On the other side, the House passed a bill nearly unanimously to require schools to keep a supply of naloxone, which can be used to reverse overdoses. But in that case, the Senate never voted on it.

Lawmakers will return from their break soon to vote on potentially overriding the governor’s vetoes. Are there any education-related vetoes to look out for?

The governor is expected to veto a handful of bills passed by the Legislature. One is a bill that would end in-state tuition for certain high school graduates who are immigrants without documented legal status.

While most Republican lawmakers supported the bill, some were among the bill’s most vocal critics.

“These youth that have gone through our high schools will just not go to college,” said Senate Vice President Tim Shallenburger, a Republican from Baxter Springs. “And that’s not making Kansas a better place; it’s not making them better people.”

That bill is especially vulnerable because it didn’t receive two-thirds support in either chamber. Lawmakers need to hit that threshold in both chambers to override a veto.

Kansas Republicans are also trying to expand the school choice program in the state. They passed a bill to let families opt into federal tax credits to pay for their kids to go to private school.

The bill would also expand a similar program at the state level. Kelly is likely to veto that one, too, but it has stronger support in the Senate.

Daniel Caudill covers education and other local issues for KMUW.

The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio.

Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished by news media at no cost with proper attribution and a link to ksnewsservice.org.

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