Committee approves amendments and advances House Bill 2320 on foster-care student transfers

The Committee on K-12 Education Budget voted to pass House Bill 2320 out of committee after adopting amendments that clarify timing and statutory language for foster-care student transfers.

Chair introduced an amendment drawn from testimony of the Office of Child Advocate to tighten the bill's timing language. The chair said the bill should read, "following the best interest determination conducted pursuant to federal and state law and policies procedures manual," to reflect existing policy and the two-business-day transfer timeline.

Representative McDonald asked whether "business days" could fall when a school is not in session, citing concerns raised by the Kansas Association of School Boards. The chair said that the first amendment did not address that point but that a subsequent amendment would.

The committee adopted a second amendment that defines "business day" to align with each school district's administrative office calendar. Revisor Meyer explained: "business day is just any Monday through Friday in where the school district or school's administrative office is open," excluding federal and state holidays and days the office is closed for inclement weather or other circumstances. The committee approved the definition by voice vote.

A technical amendment from Revisor Meyer updated statutory citations and corrected drafting left over from the bill's original drafting last session so the bill amends the correct version of statute. After those changes, Representative Brantley moved and Representative Owsley seconded that the committee pass HB2320 favorably as amended; the motion carried on a voice vote and the bill was reported out of committee.

The chair closed the discussion and moved the committee to its next item of business.

The committee record shows voice votes on amendments and the final motion; individual roll-call tallies were not recorded in the transcript.