CORRECTED
SESSION OF 2023
SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE ON HOUSE SUBSTITUTE FOR
SENATE BILL NO. 83
As Amended by House Committee of the Whole

Brief*
House Sub. for SB 83, as amended, would create the
Sunflower Education Equity Act (Sunflower Act) by providing
for education savings accounts for students and establishing
the Sunflower Education Equity Scholarship Fund. The bill
would also amend the Kansas School Equity and
Enhancement Act to allow certain unified school districts
(USDs) to utilize current year enrollment or higher enrollment
of any of the previous four years to determine State
Foundation Aid.
Further, the bill would appropriate $592.7 million from
the State General Fund (SGF) for special education for FY
2024 and create a task force for special education topics. The
bill would also provide for a salary increase for all school
district licensed teachers and amend school finance law to
allow certain school districts to use total enrollment.
The bill would also make four findings regarding the
purpose of the Sunflower Act.

Appropriations, Kansas State Department of Education
(New Section 1)
The bill would appropriate $592.7 million to the Kansas
State Department of Education (KSDE) for special education
services in FY 2024.
____________________
*Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research
Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental
note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at
http://www.kslegislature.org
 The bill would also provide for creation of the Special
Education and Related Services Task Force for FY 2024; this
task force would be required to study and make
recommendations for changes in the existing state funding
formula for special education and related services.
Organization of Task Force
Membership. The Task Force would consist of the
following ten members:
● Two members to be appointed by the Speaker of
the House of Representatives;
● Two members to be appointed by the President of
the Senate;
● One member to be appointed by the Minority
Leader of the House of Representatives;
● One member to be appointed by the Minority
Leader of the Senate;
● One member to be appointed by the State Board of
Education;
● Two members to be appointed by KSDE who are
professionals in the field of special education and
related services; and
● One member to be a parent of a student who
receives special education services. The
appointment would be for one year and alternate
between the Speaker and the President.
Task force leadership. Under the bill, the Speaker
would designate one of the Speaker’s appointments to call
the first meeting of the Task Force.


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Compensation
The bill would provide that Task Force members
attending meetings authorized by the Task Force would
receive compensation, subsistence allowances, and mileage,
and other expenses as provided under KSA 75-3223.

Sunflower Act—Program Definitions (New Section 2)
The bill would establish definitions for terms including,
but not limited to, the following:
● “Parent” means a Kansas resident who is the
parent, stepparent, legal guardian, custodian, or
other person with authority to act on behalf of a
qualified student;
● “Qualified school” means any school located in
Kansas that is either a nonpublic preschool,
elementary or secondary school that has been
approved to participate; and
● “Qualified student” means a resident of Kansas
who is eligible to enroll in a public elementary or
secondary school in this state or a preschool
school student aged three or four whose parent
has verified on a treasurer-approved form that the
student:
○ Qualifies for free meals under the national
school lunch program;
○ Has a custodial parent who is unmarried on
the first day of school;
○ Has a parent who was a teenager when the
student was born;
○ Has a parent who lacks a high school
diploma, general education development
credential, or high school equivalency
credential on the first day of school;
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 ○ Has limited English proficiency.
○ Has a lower than expected developmental
progress as determined by a trained
professional but not low enough to be eligible
for special education services;
○ Qualifies for migrant status; or
○ Is experiencing homelessness.
Sunflower Education Equity Program Administration
(New Section 3)
The bill would establish the the Sunflower Education
Equity Program (Program). The bill would also require the
State Treasurer (Treasurer) or designee of the Treasurer to
administer the Program.
The Treasurer would be directed to accept applications,
retain program data, establish and administer both program
accounts and the Sunflower Education Equity Scholarship
Fund (Fund), and establish and administer processes and
procedures as necessary. The bill would further provide that
KSDE is required to cooperate and collaborate in the
implementation and administration of the Program as
requested by the Treasurer.
The bill would also provide that qualified students
participating in the Program and such student’s parents would
be subject to the Sunflower Act’s requirements and any
adopted rules and regulations related to the Act.

Treasurer Power and Duties (New Section 4)
The bill would detail additional oversight and
administrative duties of the Treasurer including the following:
● Establishing an appeals process in accordance
with the bill (New Section 10);

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● Conducting or contracting to conduct financial
audits of the use of account moneys;
● Establishing or contracting for the establishment of
fraud reporting services;
● Establishing or contracting with a private entity for
the establishment of a commercially viable and
user-friendly website to establish digital spending
accounts and provide at least the following
services:
○ Account management;
○ Payment processing by electronic fund
transfers;
○ Reimbursement by electronic funds transfer;
○ Monitor and creation of reports in real time;
○ Temporary hold status placement on
accounts;
○ Reduction of the possibility of fraud, waste,
and abuse; and
○ Compliance standards for data privacy and
cybersecurity;
● Requiring surety bond or insurance of at least
$100,000 for education service providers that
provide services to more than five students
annually [Note: This requirement would not apply to
a provider who is an immediate family member of
the qualified students];
● Providing and updating a handbook for program
applicants and participants, at a minimum, the
policies and procedures of the Sunflower
Education Equity Scholarship accounts; and
● Exercising other functions and duties as provided
in the Sunflower Act.

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 The bill would prohibit the Treasurer from disclosing any
qualified student’s personal information without the written
permission of the student’s parent for each disclosure.

State Treasurer’s Duties (New Section 5)
The bill would require the Treasurer to maintain on the
Treasurer’s website and provide an electronic or hard copy to
the parent of a qualifying student, prior to any expenditures
from the account, a list of the following:
● Allowable expenditures;
● Responsibilities for the qualifying student’s parents;
● Impact of a qualifying student participating with an
individualized education program or a plan under
section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of
1973;
● The appeals process;
● The handbook; and
● The duties of the Treasurer.
The bill would require KSDE to include information about
the Program and a link to the Treasurer’s website about the
program on its website.

Phasing Implementation of the Program (New Section 6)
The bill would provide participation requirements for
qualified students by school year, as follows:
● School year 2024-2025. A qualified student could
participate in the Program if the student was
attending or is eligible to attend preschool, or
enrolled and attending a public school in school
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 year 2023-2024 in either kindergarten or grades 1
through 12 and is either eligible for free or reduced-
price meals under the national school lunch
program or scored at a performance level 1 on the
language arts or mathematics state assessment;
○ If the qualified student is eligible to enroll in
kindergarten or grades 1 through 12 and does
not meet these eligibility criteria and has
annual family income of no more than 300
percent of the federal poverty guidelines, the
qualified student could participate if the total
number of qualified students is less than
2,000;
● School year 2025-2026. A qualified student could
participate in the Program if the student was
attending or is eligible to attend preschool, or
enrolled in the previous year or was enrolled and
attending a public school in school year 2024-2025
in either kindergarten or grades 1 through 12 and is
either eligible for the free or reduced-price meals
under the national school lunch program or scored
at a performance level 1 on the language arts or
mathematics state assessment;
○ If the qualified student is eligible to enroll in
kindergarten or grades 1 through 12 and does
not meet these eligibility criteria and has
annual family income of no more than 400
percent of the federal poverty guidelines, the
qualified student could participate if the total
number of qualified students is less than
4,000;
● School year 2026-2027. A qualified student could
participate in the Program if the student was
attending or is eligible to attend preschool, or
enrolled in the previous year or was enrolled and
attending a public school in school year 2025-2026
in either kindergarten, grades 1 through 12 and is

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 either eligible for the free or reduced-price meals
under the national school lunch program or scored
at a performance level 1 on the language arts or
mathematics state assessment;
○ If the qualified student is eligible to enroll in
kindergarten or grades 1 through 12 and does
not meet this eligibility criteria and has annual
family income of less than or equal to 400
percent of the federal poverty guidelines, the
qualified student could participate if the total
number of qualified students is less than
8,000; and
● School year 2027-2028, subsequent years. The
bill would provide that any qualified student who
has annual family income of less than or equal to
600 percent of the federal poverty guidelines could
participate in the Program.
The bill would also specify that in years in which the
number of applicants exceeds the number of qualified
students allowed to participate in the Program, the Treasurer
would be required to accept qualified students on a first-
come, first-served basis.

Program Enrollment, Establishing an Account
(New Section 7)
The bill would require the parent of the qualifying
student to submit an application on a form and in the manner
prescribed by the Treasurer. If the qualifying student is
schooled at home, the bill would provide the application
would not constitute registration pursuant to requirements for
KSA 72-4346 (registration of private elementary and
secondary schools with the State Board of Education).
The bill would provide that beginning in school year
2024-2025, after accepting the application and any other
required documentation throughout the school year, the
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Treasurer would enroll the qualifying student in the Program
and notify the parent within 30 days after receipt of all
necessary information. The Treasurer would also be required
to provide the parent with all the information required to be
made available on the Treasurer’s website. The bill would
specify that all notifications, applications, or documents could
be provided electronically to the Treasurer with the Treasurer
confirming receipt electronically or by hard copy.
The bill would require the parent of a qualified student to
enter into a written agreement with the Treasurer to establish
the account. The treasurer would then be required to approve
each written agreement. All written agreements would be
required to contain the following provisions:
● Money in the account must be used to educate the
qualifying student, at a minimum, in reading,
grammar, mathematics, social studies, and
science;
● Upon receipt of the scholarship, the qualifying
student cannot enroll full time in any school district;
● No immediate family member of a qualified student
may collect payment, tuition, or fees for
educational therapies or services, or tutoring;
● Money in a qualified student’s account can be
expended only as authorized by the Sunflower Act;
● Payments from an account for tuition could be
made only to a qualified school or a postsecondary
educational institution;
● The qualifying student may accept a scholarship
pursuant to the Tax Credit for Low-income Students
Scholarship Program Act, if eligible; and


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 ● The parent of a qualified student must comply with
the rules and regulations and all other
requirements of this act.
The bill would provide that once the agreement is
approved, one account will be authorized for each qualified
student. The bill would further specify that each written
agreement would be for one year, but it could be suspended
or terminated for cause. The qualified student’s account could
be renewed annually, and the bill would provide that the
Treasurer must notify the parent of the renewal requirements
30 calendar days prior to the end of each term year.
The bill would permit the Treasurer to suspend the
written agreement if:
● The money in the account has been used
improperly;
● The qualified student is no longer a resident of
Kansas; or
● The qualified student has enrolled in a school
district full-time.
The bill would further provide that when the Treasurer
suspends the agreement, notice must be given to the parent
that no expenditure may be made from the account. The bill
would require the notice to include the reason for the
suspension and state the parent has 15 business days to
respond or take corrective action. The Treasurer would be
permitted to terminate the agreement if the parent fails to
respond with the requested report or additional information
within the 15 business days or fails to repay any unauthorized
expenditures.
The bill would also permit the parent to terminate the
agreement with written notification. Once an agreement has
been terminated, the bill would provide that the Treasurer
must close the account.
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Qualified Student Expenditures (New Section 8)
The bill would require a parent to only expend a qualified
student’s account for the following:
● Tuition or fees charged by a qualified school;
● Textbooks and other supplies required by a
qualified school;
● Educational therapies or services provided by a
licensed or accredited education provider;
● Tutoring services provided by a tutor, who is not an
immediate family member of the qualified student;
● Curriculum materials;
● Uniforms purchased as required for attendance at
a qualified school;
● Tuition or fees charged by an online learning
program;
● Contracted services from a public school district,
including individual classes;
● Fees for any nationally standardized norm-
referenced achievement test, advanced placement
examination, or examination related to admission
to a postsecondary institution;
● Tuition and fees charged by a postsecondary
educational institution;
● Textbooks required by a postsecondary
educational institution;
● Fees or costs required to apply for or acquire
occupational licenses, certificates, apprenticeships,
or other professional qualifications;
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 ● Fees for transportation services approved by the
Treas