Transcript Highlights:

• district's population where the schools what school schools are however we would note that this would
• school site.
• middle school year.
• middle school year.
• schools.

Summary: The committee heard opening public comment and then took up several K-12 budget items in the Governor’s January proposal. On LCFF and necessary small schools, the Department of Finance described a 2.41% COLA, a roughly $2.2 billion increase for districts and charters, and a $30.7 million ongoing augmentation to raise necessary small schools funding by 20%. The LAO supported funding the COLA and said the small schools proposal had merit, but questioned the 20% figure and warned about a sharp funding cliff around the enrollment thresholds. Members and witnesses repeatedly raised declining enrollment, attendance, and the need to align funding with outcomes and local cost pressures. The chair and several members also asked whether consolidation, shared administration, or alternative formulas could better address small district costs, and the issue was left open for further discussion. The panel then discussed special education equalization. Finance proposed $509 million ongoing Proposition 98 funding to raise the statewide special education base rate to $999 per ADA, which would fully equalize SELPA base rates; the LAO said the same target could likely be reached with less money under current assumptions. CDE strongly supported equalization as an equity issue and said about 15% of students are identified with disabilities, with identification rising by roughly 20,000 to 25,000 students per year. Members raised concerns about staffing shortages, high caseloads, and the need to use any additional funds for inclusive practices, alternative diploma pathways, and the extraordinary cost pool. The committee also discussed whether the budget language should reflect the $509 million amount or the $999 rate, and the item was held open. For the Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant, Finance proposed restoring $757.3 million one-time to complete the program, while the LAO recommended approval because learning loss remains unresolved and districts have generally used the funds for tutoring, supplemental instruction, and other academic supports. CDE explained that LEAs must revisit their needs assessments and that many districts are using the funds alongside other support systems, but members pressed for clearer accountability and better data on how much money actually goes to tutoring or other direct services. The committee then reviewed the Student Support and Professional Development Discretionary Block Grant, with Finance proposing $2.8 billion one-time and the LAO saying discretionary funding can help districts address local priorities but should be paired with fiscal oversight and possibly more targeted priorities. Members split between supporting flexibility for local needs and worrying that the grant could be used to cover ongoing structural deficits without clear evidence of student-outcome gains; the issue was also held open. Finally, the committee heard a high-level overview of school facilities funding under Proposition 2, with Finance proposing to continue $1.5 billion in bond spending in 2026-27. OPSC said that at the current pace all Prop 2 K-12 funds would likely be exhausted around 2029-30, and that demand is shifting toward modernization as enrollment declines in many areas. Members asked about school closures, reuse of unused sites, and the new small school district facilities program, which OPSC said is moving toward proposed regulations and would begin accepting modernization applications in November 2026 and new construction applications in January 2027. The committee also briefly noted community college facilities funding and asked for more information later in the process.

Transcript Highlights:

• Community school and be teaching at a community school for 14 years.
• I've always heard in my days on the school board that people love their local school, but other schools
• I've always heard in my days on the school board that people love their local school, but other schools
• They love their local schools.
• As our schools, our public schools are becoming daycares for mentally troubled kids.

Keywords: 989, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Chair, members, we have two middle schools: New Hobbs Middle School and Heiser Middle School.
• Both of these schools are very similar; they're prototype schools.
• schools.
• I'm just curious to see what these schools look like, not this particular school, but schools in general
• Typically, we fund schools or look at schools within the top 100.

Transcript Highlights:

• social workers, school counselors, and school psychologists.
• school counselors and social workers school counselors and school school school psychologists<00:19:
• [witness | Sydney Paris] A school counselor, a middle school counselor, and a high school counselor are
• > School</c> school School social workers School school School social workers School nurses<01:02:57.440
• coun 1600 school over 1,500 School coun 1600 school counselors<01:06:18.240><c> that</c><01:06:18.400

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• School nurses are members of the school attendance teams.
• </c> school. Um, so it's really impacting us. school.
• a school school counselor and I've been a school counselor<01:15:44.640><c> for</c><01:15:44.800><c>
• our school social workers, school counselors, and school nurses do.
• our school social workers, school counselors, and school nurses do.

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• </c> if you stole their school administrator. if you stole their school administrator.
• Does the sending school also have to be an open enrollment school? No.
• The open enrollment school is the receiving school. This legislation clarifies that.
• </c> keeps public dollars in public schools. keeps public dollars in public schools.
• schools otherwise don't.

Keywords: 1191, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• School safety.
• Community schools. Thank you for your support with community schools.
• after-school programs.
• Chairman, it has come up about school security funding for school security.
• schools.

Keywords: 996, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Now, this also includes charter schools now public schools including tribal contract schools um to help
• ><c> schools</c><00:02:00.079><c> including</c> schools now public schools including schools now public
• look</c><00:22:46.159><c> at</c> open to schools that schools can look at open to schools that schools
• Phelps School, Catholic school.
• Um, I'm Phelps School, Catholic school.

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• These included 14% of districts and 7% of elementary schools, 13% of middle schools, and 8% of high schools
• </c> to the school environment. to the school environment.
• in many schools.
• . schools. schools.
• School.

Keywords: 958, all

Summary: The Education Assessment and Accountability Review Subcommittee received an Office of Education Accountability presentation on student discipline data in Kentucky schools for the 2024 school year. OEA said the study used Safe Schools data, educator and student surveys, site visits to 12 schools, and principal surveys. The report found that about 1 in 10 schools have major behavior-related challenges and up to one-third have at least moderate challenges, with the most common concerns varying by level: high schools cited vapes, cell phone misuse, apathy, and tardiness; middle schools cited apathy, vapes, and cell phone misuse; and elementary schools reported more extreme classroom behaviors such as throwing objects, overturning furniture, and screaming. OEA also noted that 14% of students had at least one behavior event in 2024, but repeated events were rare, and event rates alone do not reliably measure the severity of behavior problems in a school or district. The presentation emphasized that many disciplinary consequences do not align consistently with statutes or local expectations. OEA said law violations made up 19% of more than 250,000 recorded behavior events, while most were board violations, and that some serious incidents resulted in minimal consequences. The report highlighted concerns about weapons, threats, and assaults: only 9.2% of weapon events led to expulsion or alternative placement, few threats resulted in those outcomes, and fewer than 10% of assaults led to expulsion or alternative placement, including some first-degree assaults. OEA also said the Safe Schools data do not identify victims, limiting analysis of assaults on staff or students, and recommended clearer statutory definitions and better data reporting. A major theme was the difficulty schools face in addressing chronic disruption and severe behavior while complying with federal protections for students with disabilities. OEA said principals reported the biggest challenges were federal limits on disciplinary removals and a lack of alternative placement options. The report described variation among districts in how they implement federal requirements, with some administrators discouraging alternative placements or avoiding discipline because of perceived legal risks. Site visits found that many schools lacked chronic-disruption policies, and teachers often reported frustration with minimal consequences and repeated classroom removals. OEA recommended that KDE collect more information from educators, identify promising practices for alternative instructional settings, and develop clearer guidance and training. In discussion, committee members said the findings showed reporting gaps and resource strains, and OEA staff clarified that some underreporting reflects local discretion, while law violations should still be reported.

Transcript Highlights:

• Beechwood Independent: their projects include a high school and elementary school renovations, and their
• </c> the slides into each of the schools the slides into each of the schools individually<00:02:55.159
• </c> Department of Ed and then the school Department of Ed and then the school priority<00:03:33.200>
• </c> know we have slides for all 20 schools know we have slides for all 20 schools and<00:03:44.159><
• So some schools had that happen.

Keywords: 958, all

Summary: The House Budget Review Committee on Primary and Secondary Education and Workforce Development met, approved the minutes from its first meeting, and then received a presentation on the School Facility Assistance Fund audit. State Auditor Allison Ball’s office and its third-party contractor, Blue and Co., explained that the audit followed the scope set in the budget bill: to review each school project’s cost, available local resources, and eligibility criteria for state gap funding, with the Auditor of Public Accounts certifying the final report. The presenters walked through the 20 school projects identified for review and gave the current gap funding amounts found for each. Examples included Adair County at about $7.6 million, Augusta Independent at $5.3 million, B.S. Down Independent at just over $43 million, Fleming County at about $15 million, Garrard County at $14.9 million, Johnson County at $78 million, Somerset Independent at $1.7 million, Walton Verona at $48,000, Williams Town Independent at $7.4 million, and several others. They also noted that some districts were fully funded before the audit or withdrew because they had secured enough local funding, including Breathitt County, Kent County, and Lewis County. Washington County’s project was flagged as failing some House Bill 6 eligibility criteria even though the report calculated a $27.6 million gap. Members asked whether districts that secured funding on their own were being penalized, and the auditors responded that changes in gap amounts reflected several factors, including rising project costs and newly available local funding. They also said the audit did not attempt to determine whether local funds were earmarked for one project versus another, because the budget bill directed them to assess available local funding as provided. The committee requested the presentation slides, and the meeting concluded with no further questions and a motion to adjourn.

Transcript Highlights:

• Consecutive school weeks.
• schools.
• Schools are not...
• Schools are not...
• in school, and she told them to stop, and then the school didn't stop.

Summary: The Committee on Education approved the minutes from February 18 and March 4, 2026, then took up several bills. HCR 2003, the “Protect Girls in Sports in Arizona Act,” drew extensive testimony. Supporters, including Superintendent Tom Horne, argued it would protect fairness, safety, and privacy in girls’ sports and locker rooms by requiring teams to be designated male, female, or co-ed and by limiting access to sex-designated private spaces. Opponents, including ACLU and transgender advocates, said the measure was discriminatory, would function as a bathroom ban, and could force schools to police students’ bodies and identities. The committee voted 4-3 to give HCR 2003 a due pass recommendation. The committee then advanced HB 2020, which lowers certain student threats or disruptions at educational institutions from a Class 6 felony to a Class 1 misdemeanor, and HB 2032, which changes the statewide testing window so assessments begin later in the spring and scores are returned later, with supporters saying it would better reflect a full year of instruction. HB 2033, allowing school districts or charter schools to choose paper-and-pencil administration of statewide assessments by governing board vote, also received support from educators who said it would reduce technology barriers for younger students. HB 2318, as amended, would impose term limits on school district governing board members after eight consecutive years; school board groups opposed it as harmful to rural districts, but the committee adopted an amendment and gave the bill a due pass recommendation. The committee also approved HB 2378, which changes eligibility rules for School Facilities Oversight Board members who are architects or engineers so their businesses may not include school construction. HB 2313, which prohibits teacher strikes or organized work stoppages and ties funding penalties to districts or charters that violate the ban, advanced despite testimony that it duplicates existing law and could chill educators’ speech and worsen staffing shortages. Finally, HB 2249, a major expansion of the Parents’ Bill of Rights, passed after heated testimony. Supporters said it would prevent schools from socially transitioning minors without written parental consent and stop staff from encouraging children to hide information from parents; opponents warned it was vague, punitive, and would expose teachers and schools to massive liability and litigation. The committee adopted amendments on HB 2318 and HB 2249 and reported all of the listed bills out with due pass recommendations, with recorded split votes on several measures.

Transcript Highlights:

• </c> school district? school district?
• school be a charter school, every public school be a charter school, then<01:37:00.239><c> all</c><01
• . school. school.
• schools in their school district.
• </c> school spending, more school spending. school spending, more school spending.

Keywords: 1189, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Middle school, 529. High school, 955.
• public school.
• One of the school systems I represent... school districts. Uh, maybe they're down school districts.
• </c> public school system. public school system.
• This is public school to public school.

Keywords: Education - Room 216, January 6, 2026; 12:45 PM, 925, all

Transcript Highlights:

• </c><01:18:02.960><c> I</c> School meals while working in schools I School meals while working in schools
• District</c> 20 School option or School District 20 School option or School District options<03:20:46.359
• </c> schools but the vast majority of schools schools but the vast majority of schools in<04:02:15.239
• <04:09:18.680><c> of</c> school the middle schools in the back of school the middle schools in the back
• </c> school that I work with the 40 schools school that I work with the 40 schools they<04:15:07.880>

Keywords: 928, house, all

Summary: The committee took up HB 651, a school-funding bill that would raise the base cost of an adequate education and increase differentiated aid for students in poverty, English language learners, and special education. The chair opened with housekeeping notices about parking and eating in committee spaces, and noted a revised fiscal note would be distributed. Representative David Luneau presented the bill as part of a broader package of public school funding measures, explaining that HB 651 builds on HB 550 and is intended to respond to court rulings and the ongoing school-funding litigation by adjusting both the base adequacy amount and equity-based funding factors. Luneau said the bill would raise the state’s adequacy grant from about $4,100 to $7,351 per student and increase differentiated aid, while also updating statutory language so future recalculations include the court-identified resource elements. He argued the measure is about fairness and shifting more of the burden from local property taxpayers to the state, not about increasing overall education spending. He reviewed fiscal-note figures indicating the bill would add roughly $576 million to the state share of school funding, bringing the total state share to about $1.65 billion, and said the note also mentions possible effects on charter schools and vouchers. Committee members asked about the evidence supporting higher costs for low-income and English learner students, how long ESL funding should continue, why free-and-reduced-lunch aid remains higher than special education aid, whether the formula is based on enrollment or average daily membership, and whether the bill is truly equitable across districts of different sizes and needs. Luneau and later witness Zach Shen of the New Hampshire School Funding Fairness Project said the bill is supported by research and court findings, that the current formula relies heavily on local property taxes, and that shifting more funding to the state would reduce property-tax pressure and help address disparities among districts. Shen also cited broad public support for the related HB 550 testimony and said HB 651 is intended as a step toward a more equitable funding system. No vote or final action was taken in the portion provided.

Transcript Highlights:

• Yes, for high school.
• A lot of it could be middle school or high school.
• , some schools do and some schools don’t.
• I don't believe that the school resource officer law that authorizes schools to have school resource
• schools.

Summary: The committee first took up HB 987, which would move the Louisiana Geological Survey under the LSU Energy Institute to streamline energy-related programs. The author and members described it as an efficiency measure, and the committee reported the bill favorably without objection. Members then heard HB 513 on name, image, and likeness rules for intercollegiate and interscholastic athletes. The bill was presented as a product of a task force and was supported by the Attorney General’s office, coaches, and a student athlete, who emphasized the need for guardrails, education, and protections against exploitation by agents or third parties. Questions focused on high school enforcement, parental consent, and what students may legally do; the committee ultimately reported the bill favorably. The committee also considered HCR 26, which asks BESE to incorporate the science of human growth and development, including prenatal development, into science or health standards and to provide instructional materials. Supporters said it would improve science education and show fetal development more clearly, while opponents raised concerns about medical accuracy, political influence, and lack of safeguards. An amendment requiring parental consent for instruction was offered but failed on a roll call vote, and the resolution was then reported favorably. Later, the committee reported HB 608 favorably as amended to protect confidentiality of documents tied to intercollegiate athletics revenue-sharing, while preserving public disclosure of overall institutional spending. It also advanced HB 380, creating a pilot program to expand CDL workforce training through a community college and school partnership, and HB 392, which would require suicide hotline information on school websites, student ID cards, and, through amendment, visible signs in schools. The committee then reported HB 476 as amended, requiring Safe Haven law flyers in school restrooms, and began discussion of HB 682 to authorize veterans as school resource officers, with amendments addressing qualifications and training.

Transcript Highlights:

• . schools. schools.
• </c> schools themselves? schools themselves?
• </c> school students, middle school students. school students, middle school students.
• </c> just schools, individual schools. just schools, individual schools.
• . school. school.

Keywords: 1189, house, all

Transcript Highlights:

• Hobbs High School is the largest high school in the state of New Mexico.
• Large schools.
• our schools.
• We have a very beautiful elementary school, a very beautiful middle school, and a very nice high school
• schools.

Transcript Highlights:

• :07.440><c> our</c><01:44:07.679><c> school</c> school student new to our school school student new to
• I'm the head of school at Ley Monasuri School in Winona.
• I'm the head of school at Ley Monasuri School in Winona.
• Schools.
• Our public school charter schools.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• our school.
• school.
• There could have been money sent to private schools, nonpublic schools, tribal schools.
• They're left out a safety school safe school aid, nonpublic schools.
• School counselors license School, nurse's license school, social, worse workers license school, psychologists

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• We've heard from a school nurse.
• So the students have access when school starts at that beginning of the school year.
• We also work closely with school districts and charter schools to strengthen family-school partnerships
• in the virtual school.
• She was moved within the same school district, Caldwell School District.

Summary: The committee first heard House Bill 531, which updates Idaho school code language on epinephrine delivery systems so schools are not limited to referencing only auto-injectors like EpiPens. The sponsor and school nurse testimony said the change would allow newer FDA-approved options, such as nasal spray, without creating new staffing, training, reporting, or fiscal requirements. Members confirmed the bill does not require schools or LEAs to keep epinephrine on hand. The committee voted to send the bill to the floor with a due pass recommendation. The committee then took up Senate Bill 1288, which creates the Idaho High Needs Student Fund to help reimburse districts and charter schools for unusually high special education costs tied to a student’s IEP. The bill sets a $30,000 threshold, reimburses 100% of costs from $30,000 to $80,000 and 80% above that up to $100,000 per student, and reserves funding between rural and non-rural districts with flexibility to use unused funds where needed. Testimony from school boards, districts, educators, and parent advocates described the bill as a way to stabilize budgets and protect services for students with complex medical, behavioral, and sensory needs. After questions about the funding split and current special education shortfall, the committee voted to send the bill to the floor with a due pass recommendation. Finally, the committee heard House Bill 624, which revises rules for virtual education programs and Idaho Home Learning Academy. The bill requires school board approval of contracts with education service providers, verification of Idaho residency, alignment of curricular materials with state standards, conflict-of-interest safeguards, limits on direct payments to parents, clearer rules for eligible supplemental learning expenses, and district/charter control over hiring and evaluation of teachers. Supporters from Idaho Home Learning Academy, school districts, and parents said the changes preserve virtual school choice while adding transparency and accountability. The committee voted to send House Bill 624 to the floor with a due pass recommendation.