The Legislature canned a much-debated voucher program that would allow unregulated private schools to receive state dollars and put federal COVID-19 relief funds toward special education.

Legislation that passed the House 76-46 would allow parents to withdraw their children from courses they find objectionable under the assumption that teachers are crossing the line into advocating for radical ideas. 

A new form of the long-debated Kansas voucher program for private schools would fund the program with federal COVID-19 dollars and provide $1,000 for public school students.

In the first of what is likely to be a series of bill negotiations over the next few days, a Kansas senator proposed cutting provisions on teacher salaries and district funding from a controversial, voucher-like K-12 education proposal. 

Complex details of the Kansas House’s plan for state funding of K-12 education were woven Wednesday into contents of nine other bills that included policy allowing private school students to take part in extra-curricular activities at public schools and expanding opportunities for more than two-dozen wealthy districts to raise taxes to increase salaries of teachers.

The dustup in the Senate over a bill delivering voucher-like funding to Kansas private schools featured zinger one-liners, rival interpretations of an obscure parliamentary rule and allegations Republican leadership engaged in abuse of power.

The Kansas House passed a wide-ranging bill funneling state funding to unregulated private schools after holdups due to bipartisan concern about the proposal’s effects.