GOP pushes to allow for student transfers

The measure is part of package of education legislation touching on issues Republicans see as important to many parents ahead of this year’s elections. Lawmakers also are considering banning transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports and giving parents more say over what’s taught in the classroom, particularly about racism and its influence on U.S. history.

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State News

March 22, 2022 - 2:25 PM

Sen. Cindy Holscher, D-Overland Park, objected to the Senate GOP’s proposed educational bill of rights for public schools and made the point by suggesting legislators weighing into K-12 curriculum issues should first work for a week as a school volunteer. KANSAS REFLECTOR/SHERMAN SMITH

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican legislators who argue that Kansas parents need more education choices are pushing to allow them to move their children from the public schools they’d normally attend to others outside their local school district’s boundaries.

The GOP-controlled state Senate gave first-round approval Monday to a measure that would allow parents of K-12 students to transfer them to any other school districts with enough space to take them. Under the bill, the program would start during the 2023-24 school year.

The measure is partly a response to the closing of school buildings in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic and different local school districts’ different schedules for returning to in-person classes. But conservatives have pushed for years to help parents move their children out of their local public schools — something critics see as an attempt to avoid adequately funding education.

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