SESSION OF 2023
SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE ON HOUSE BILL NO. 2218
As Amended by House Committee on K-12
Education Budget

Brief*
HB 2218, as amended, would create the Sunflower
Education Equity Act (Act) by providing for education savings
accounts for students, establishing the Sunflower Education
Equity Board, and establishing the Sunflower Education
Equity Scholarship Fund. The bill would amend law to state
Program participants would meet the compulsory attendance
requirements.
The bill would also make four findings regarding the
purpose of the Act.

Program Definitions (New Section 1)
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 elementary or
secondary school that has been approved to
participate, or a preschool serving students with
disabilities; and
____________________
*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
 ● “Qualified student” means a resident of Kansas
who is eligible to enroll in a public elementary or
secondary school in this state or in a preschool
program for children with disabilities.
Sunflower Education Equity Program and Board;
Program Administration (New Section 2)
The bill would establish the the Sunflower Education
Equity Program (Program). The bill would also establish the
Sunflower Education Equity Board (Board), which would
provide general management, oversight, and appeals
process of the Program. The bill would also require the State
Treasurer (Treasurer) or designee of the Treasurer to
administer the Program at the direction of the Board.
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
the Kansas State Department of Education (Department) is
required to cooperate and collaborate in the implementation
and administration of the Program as requested by the Board
or Treasurer.
The bill would also provide that qualified students
participating in the Program and such student’s parents would
be subject to the Act’s requirements and any adopted rules
and regulations related to the Act.

Sunflower Education Equity Board Membership (New
Section 3)
The bill would establish the Board, which would consist
of nine voting members and one non-voting member, all
whom are required to be Kansas residents. The voting
members would include:

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 ● The Treasurer, who will serve as the Board
chairperson;
● One member appointed by the President of the
Senate;
● One member appointed by the Speaker of the
House of Representatives;
● One member appointed by the Minority Leader of
the Senate;
● One member appointed by the Minority Leader of
the House of Representatives;
● The chairperson of either the House of
Representatives Education Committee or the K-12
Budget Committee as determined by the Speaker:
● The chairperson of the Senate Education
Committee;
● A parent with a qualified student in the Program
appointed by the Governor; and
● A representative of a qualified school appointed by
the Governor.
The bill would designate a Department representative as
the nonvoting member.
The bill would provide that initial terms for members
would be one year for Governor appointed members, two
years for minority party appointed members, and three years
for President and Speaker appointed members. The bill
would further specify that subsequent appointments will be for
four-year terms and initial members could be reappointed.
Vacancies on the Board would be filled in the same manner
provided for the original appointment.

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 The bill would require the board meetings occur at least
twice a year on call of the chairperson. Further, a majority of
voting members would constitute a quorum. Members
attending authorized board or subcommittee meetings wpi;d
be paid as provided for in KSA 75-3223.

Board Power and Duties (New Section 4)
The bill would detail additional oversight and
administrative duties of the Board, including the following:
● Establishing an appeals process in accordance
with the bill (section 9);
● Conducting or contracting to conduct financial
audits of 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
○ Meeting of Board determined standards for
data privacy and cybersecurity;

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 ● Requiring surety bond or insurance of at least
$100,000 for education service providers that
provide services to more than five students
annually (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 Act.
The bill would prohibit the Board 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, the following:
● Allowable expenditures;
● Responsibilities for the qualifying student’s parents;
● Impact of a qualifying student participating with an
individualized education program or a section 504
plan of federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973;
● The appeals process;
● The handbook;
● The duties of the Treasurer; and

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 ● The duties of the board.
The bill would direct the Department 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 2023-2024. A qualified student may
participate in the Program if the student was
enrolled and attending a public school in school
year 2022-2023 in either kindergarten, grades 1
through 12, or preschool if the student has a
disability.
○ If the qualified student does not meet this
eligibility criteria and has annual family
income of 300 percent of the federal poverty
guidelines, the qualified student may
participate if the total number of qualified
student is less than 2,000;
● School year 2024-2025. A qualified student may
participate in the Program if the student was
enrolled in the previous year or was enrolled and
attending a public school in school year 2023-2024
in either kindergarten, grades 1 through 12, or
preschool if the student has a disability.
○ If the qualified student does not meet this
eligibility criteria and has annual family
income of 400 percent of the federal poverty
guidelines the qualified student may
participate if the total number of qualified
student is less than 4,000;
● School year 2025-2026. A qualified student may
participate in the Program if the student was
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 enrolled in the previous year or was enrolled and
attending a public school in school year 2024-2025
in either kindergarten, grades 1 through 12, or
preschool if the student has a disability.
○ If the qualified student does not meet this
eligibility criteria the qualified student may
participate if the total number of qualified
student is less than 8,000; and
● School year 2026-2027, subsequent years. The
bill would provide that all qualified students
meeting the Act requirements may participate.
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 Board. If the qualifying student is schooled
at home, the bill provides 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, after accepting the
application and any other required documentation throughout
the school year, the 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
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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, in the
manner provided for by the Board, to establish the account.
The Board 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 shall only be
expended as authorized by the Act;
● Payments from an account for tuition could only be
made 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
● 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 every qualified
student. The bill would further specify that each written
agreement would be for one year but it could be suspended
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or terminated for cause. The qualified student’s account could
be renewed annually, and the bill provides 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
notice would be required to include the reason for the
suspension all the parent 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 with 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.

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;

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● 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;
● Fees for transportation services approved by the
board that are used for transportation to and from a
qualified school;

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 ● Computer hardware and technological devices
primarily used for educational purposes, including
personal computers, laptops, tablet devices,
microscopes, telescopes, and printers; and
● Any other education expenses approved by the
Board.
The bill would prohibit the use of expenditures for
athletic training or coaching, or instruction or tutoring provided
by an immediate family member for qualifying students who
are schooled at home. The bill would also specify that the
content or religious nature of a product or service could not
be considered when determining an allowable expenditure
from an account.
The Treasurer would be required to notify a parent of
any non-qualifying expenditures, which must be repaid by the
parent within 30 calendar days of notification and will be
credited back to the qualifying student’s account. The Board
or Treasurer would be permitted to refer cases of substantial
misuse of account funds to the Attorney General for possible
criminal investigation.

Sunflower Education Equity Scholarship Fund (New
Section 9)
The bill would establish the Fund and it would be
administered by the Treasurer. Money from the Fund could be
used only for purposes authorized by this act.
On or before August 1 of each year, the Treasurer would
determine the amount to be transferred to the Fund by
multiplying the amount equal to the BASE aid by the number
of qualified students and provide an estimate of the amount to
be transferred to the Fund for the succeeding year to the
Legislature.


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 The bill would also require the Treasurer to transfer
annually an amount equal to 95 percent of the BASE aid to all
full-time qualified student accounts or a proportional amount
to part-time qualified student accounts. The bill would specify
that payments must be made in two installments, one in
August and one in January.
The bill would also provide