Democratic Rep. Jo Ella Hoye and Democratic Sen. Cindy Holscher were also given opportunities this week to submit columns. 

The views expressed in each Capitol Update are solely those of the lawmaker and are not reflective of the Post’s position on any matter discussed. 

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week, especially to our Shawnee Mission and Blue Valley teachers!

From their website, “Since 1984, National PTA has designated one week in May as a special time to honor the individuals who lend their passion and skills to educating our children.”

This year, more than ever after the unparalleled challenges of the pandemic, they deserve our extreme gratitude and professional respect — something glaringly absent in this year’s legislative session.

This was evident early in the session when, on January 26th, the Kansas Teacher of the Year Team spoke passionately at the Capitol about their profession and their positions on the many proposed education policies being floated around the Legislature.

This was the day that I committed to making sure there was something positive to recognize teachers and address their concerns. One of the most pressing issues is that they needed reinforcements. In addition to the looming teacher shortage crisis, the Omicron variant was exacerbating the already short supply of substitute teachers.

Reps. Jo Ella Hoye, Jerry Stogsdill, Chuck Schmidt and I went to work on four pieces of legislation in support of teachers:

• temporarily changing KPERS rules so retired teachers could return to classrooms as substitutes more quickly (HB 2593),
• reinstating statutory due process for teachers (HB 2671)
• and two teacher scholarship bills (HB 2627 and HB 2626).

I’m so proud to say that my bill, HB 2626, which doubles the appropriations to the Kansas Teacher Service Scholarship, was adopted as a budget proviso and highlighted in Gov. Laura Kelly’s statement when she signed the budget bill!

Recipients of this scholarship agree to teach for a year in Kansas for every year that they receive the scholarship. If they receive credentials in Elementary Ed, English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Special Education, which are identified as “hard to fill,” they can meet their service obligation anywhere in the state.

For other teaching credentials, they can teach in underserved geographic areas, which currently included USD 501 in Topeka, USD 500 in Kansas City, USD 259 Wichita, and State Board of Education Area 5 covering the entire western third  of the state.

Making this a reality involved getting 36 bipartisan co-sponsors, advocating for a hearing (which you can view at 5:03 in this video) in the House Appropriations committee when many were vying for a piece of the budget surplus and securing the support of Senate Ways and Means leadership to make sure it survived the conference committee process.

Because these scholarships prioritize juniors and seniors, the increased funding will commit teachers to our Kansas classrooms in just a few short years.

Current education students, the priority deadline for the scholarship is June 1. P.ease apply here. Teachers, reinforcements are on the way!

My husband, David, and I have a blended family of seven children, who spent a combined 90 years learning in K-12 classrooms, 62 of which were in Kansas public schools.

We are so pleased with the adults they have become, living out dreams that were hatched and nurtured in classrooms with incredible teachers, such as a love for math resulting in a PhD, cultural and language interests blossoming into Fulbright scholarships and international business ventures, and science predilections being cultivated into medical careers. Thank you, teachers!

So, please…make sure to #ThankATeacher this week. For ideas, on how to do that, see the National PTA’s Teacher Appreciation Week Toolkit.

It’s such an honor to represent Kansas House 20, especially our dedicated and awe-inspiring teachers.