By Grant Heiman
KU Statehouse News Service

TOPEKA — A recent bill requiring a $500 annual stipend for teachers to buy supplies was introduced to the House Education Committee during a hearing on Monday.

“Why do teachers have to spend their own money to educate our children?” Rep. Cheryl Helmer (R-Mulvane) said during her introduction of the bill. “Teachers struggle on their salary. We are losing teachers every day because of behavior, societal problems, student debt and better job opportunities. Let’s take this burden away from them.”

House Bill 2233 would affect about 34,700 teachers and was met with strong opposition during the committee meeting. The estimated annual cost of the bill is around $17,350,000 and would come from the 286 school districts across the state instead of the state’s general fund.

On average teachers in the state of Kansas make $50,531 and rank 42nd in teacher salary, according to the 2017 rankings and estimates report from NEA.

“In a small school, where I retired from, it would cost us pretty close to around $40,000,” Jerry Henn, former Wellsville superintendent, said on behalf of the Kansas School Superintendents Association.

The bill stated that stipend money must only be spent on educational materials that are “intended to be fully used within the current school year,” This excludes the purchasing of products intended for multiple-year use as well as any food products.

“This bill provides little support for the innovative and creative teacher,” said Mark Desetti, Director of Legislative and Political Advocacy for the Kansas National Education Association, in his testimony.

The bill also met opposition from the Kansas Association of School Boards and other education-focused entities.

“We would like to file this bill under the category of best intentions,” Desetti said. “Unfortunately, we believe the idea behind this bill needs to be explored more deliberately.”

The committee will vote on HB 2233 on Thursday, Feb. 21.

Grant Heiman is a University of Kansas junior from Wichita majoring in journalism.

NEW HAMPTON, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa woman whose infant son’s lifeless body was found in a baby swing has been imprisoned for life without possibility of parole.

Court records say 22-year-old Cheyanne Harris was sentenced Tuesday in New Hampton to the state-mandated penalty, and her request for a new trial was denied. A jury found her guilty Feb. 6 of first-degree murder and child endangerment causing death.

The charges stem from the death of 4-month-old Sterling Koehn, whose body was found Aug. 30, 2017, in a maggot-infested diaper at an apartment in Alta Vista. The swing was in a sweltering bedroom.

An autopsy shows he died of malnutrition, dehydration and an E. coli infection.

The baby’s father, Zachary Koehn, also has been sentenced to life in prison

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A former treasurer has been sentenced for stealing from the Jewish Federation of Lincoln.

Federal prosecutors say Jennifer Rosenblatt, of Overland Park, Kansas, was sentenced Tuesday in Lincoln to six months in a residential re-entry center and six months of home confinement. She also was ordered to pay nearly $107,000 in restitution.

Prosecutors say Rosenblatt, formerly of Lincoln, was treasurer of the federation from 2009 through June 2016. They say Rosenblatt made payments to her personal credit card accounts from funds in the federation’s bank accounts.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Washburn professor says in a lawsuit that the university retaliated against her after she filed a sex discrimination complaint.

Leslie Reynard, who teaches in the communication department, said in her lawsuit the retaliation began after she told her department chair in April 2018 that she intended to file a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Reynard said the university tried to place her on a performance improvement plan in September. She refused because she said the plan was used to find small mistakes that would allow the school to fire her.

In November, she filed a claim of retaliation. The lawsuit seeks back pay and damages.

School spokesman Patrick Early said Tuesday the university’s counsel wasn’t aware of the lawsuit and wouldn’t comment.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The Columbia City Council is backing legislation that would ban gay conversion therapy for minors.

The council members voiced their support Monday for the Youth Mental Health Preservation Act, which was introduced last month in the House.

More than a dozen states have already enacted laws prohibiting licensed therapists from trying to change a minor’s sexual orientation. The American Psychological Association opposes the practice, saying it doesn’t work and can cause harm.

Columbia Mayor Brian Treece says the city “has always been a leader when it comes to nondiscrimination and pro-equality ordinances.”

Earlier this month, Columbia’s Commission on Human Rights unanimously voted to draft legislation recommending that the city adopt a law making conversion therapy on minors by licensed professionals a misdemeanor.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Advocates for low-income families joined small-town grocers and others encouraging Kansas lawmakers to reduce the state’s sales tax on groceries, while lobbyists for some organizations warned doing so might lead to efforts to reduce other types of taxes.

A hearing Monday before the House Taxation committee was the first testimony on a bill to reduce the 6.5 percent state tax rate on groceries by 1 percent. The reduction would lower state revenues by $60 million, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported .

Oberlin City Administrator Halley Roberson said her northwest Kansas town is losing tax revenue because residents drive to nearby Nebraska, which doesn’t have a sales tax on groceries. She said her town could use the sales tax revenue for badly needed infrastructure repairs.

Legislative Research data showed sales and excise tax accounts for 8 percent of family income for those in the bottom 20 percent of Kansas wage earners. The impact decreases as income rises, with the top 1 percent of wage earners using only 1 percent for sales tax.

State lawmakers raised the rate to 6.5 percent in 2015 when the state was facing continuing revenue shortfalls. Kansas residents pay one of the highest tax rates on groceries of any jurisdiction in the country when state and local taxes are combined.

Rep. Tim Hodge, a North Newton Democrat who campaigned on lowering food sales taxes, criticized past lawmakers for raising the sales tax rather than repealing tax cuts during a budget crisis.

“For the last 10 years, we have used and abused the sales tax whenever there’s any kind of recession or shortage at the state government level,” he said.

John Donley of the Kansas Farm Bureau warned that reducing the sales tax on groceries could eventually lead to replacing the sales tax with a value-added tax system, which would apply to production of goods.

“I probably am being paranoid, but I’m here today to basically put the line in the sand, stake the flag, saying we do not support reducing the state sales tax because we do believe that the next step is, well, what about that livestock exemption?” Donley said.

Adrienne Olejnik of Kansas Action for Children said the state should reconsider a food sales tax rebate program that was eliminated in 2013, rather than lowering the sales tax on groceries. The program’s refunds were available for households with less than $30,615 in annual income.

“There are a lot of unknowns and things that need to be resolved before we consider buying down the food sales tax rate,” Olejnik said.

 

 

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The University of Missouri says a student has been diagnosed with active tuberculosis and left campus voluntarily.

The school said in a news release that campus and local health officials are working to track down other people who might need testing. The school described the student as cooperative but declined to release the student’s condition or other details, citing student privacy laws.

Tuberculosis is a serious disease that usually affects the lungs and can be deadly if not treated.

Symptoms include persistent coughing, weight loss and fatigue.

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A 48-year-old man who allegedly stabbed a woman to death and stuffed her body into a trash can was ordered to stand trial for intentional second-degree murder.

Ronald Lee Kidwell is charged in the July 2018 death of 43-year-old MeShon Cooper, whose body was found at Kidwell’s home.

According to testimony, Kidwell told police he killed Cooper in a rage after she threatened to tell people he was HIV positive.

Kidwell is white and Cooper was black. At the time of the killing, the FBI said it was investigating the case as a possible hate crime . An FBI spokeswoman told The Kansas City StarTuesday that she had no update on the hate crime investigation. There was no testimony about it Tuesday.

Kidwell is jailed on $1 million bond.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri House is advancing a bill that would largely undo mandatory minimum sentencing laws.

House members gave the measure initial approval in a voice vote Tuesday. It needs another vote of approval to move to the Senate.

The legislation would allow judges to ignore mandatory minimum sentencing requirements for some nonviolent offenders.

Judges still would have to follow minimum sentencing laws for those convicted of violent crimes, sexual crimes against minors or crimes involving a gun.

The Republican-sponsored measure has bipartisan support in the House.

Republican Rep. Shamed Dogan during a Missouri Legislative Black Caucus press conference Monday also cited revamping mandatory minimum sentencing as a priority in the push for broader changes to the criminal justice system.

A similar Senate proposal has not yet had a hearing.