Support for Rigorous Academic Standards for All Students
One of the primary objectives of the SMSD Strategic Plan is that every student will achieve their academic success through a challenging, relevant, personalized learning plan. SMSD advocates for legislation and policies which support all students in achieving academic success, and will advocate to:

• Support rigorous academic standards to prepare students to meet or exceed the Rose Standards in preparation for success in a globally competitive workforce.
• Expand funding for early learning programs to recognize and address academic and social needs as quickly as possible for all kids, particularly children at-risk.
• Support funding for a state assessment system that provides timely and meaningful feedback to students, supports their growth toward college and career readiness, and can be used to meet state and Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requirements.
• Support broad local board authority to manage curriculum and learning materials within state guidance and standards.

School Finance
The legislative responsibility to provide suitable funding for public schools across the state of Kansas is a constitutional mandate, a moral imperative, and an essential component of the future growth and prosperity of the State of Kansas. To achieve this objective, SMSD will advocate to:

• Protect the authority of the Kansas Constitution, which ensures suitable provisions for the equitable and adequate finance of public education for all students in Kansas. This includes maintaining the current system for the selection of Supreme Court justices. 
• School funding must provide every student the opportunity to be college and career ready, be financially sustainable, promote efficiency, accountability, and target students who are at-risk with supports for teachers and students, and ensure educational excellence for all students in Kansas. 
• Therefore, we should maintain a stable school finance formula by: 
  • Fully funding the law approved by the Kansas Supreme Court, including funding required inflationary increases; 
  • Extending the current law and removing sunsets contained in the law.
• Support special education services and state funding at the required 92% of excess costs and mitigate the wide variance in reimbursements. The statutory funding formula has not been fully funded since 2011. Shawnee Mission fully pays for the required (and additional) special education services for our students. We also pay for what the state doesn’t fund. Each year, we are forced to shift funding from other areas of need to fill the budget hole that state funding does not fill. While federal and state governments require the provision of special education services, SMSD must reduce other services to pay for special education. Unreimbursed special education costs impact ALL students, as students with an IEP are general education students first, and spend most of their time in the general education classroom. 
• Support fully funding local, state, and federal mandates, including the additional and significant costs related to the new open enrollment law. 
• Support greater opportunities for communities to utilize operational and capital funds at the local level, with full equalization. 
• Support policies and actions to recruit and retain educators and support staff, including fully funding KPERS, returning to a KPERS Tier 2 structure and the associated benefits therein for employees hired after January 2015, and restoring statewide due process. 
• Support property tax appraisal procedures that ensure adequate property tax revenue collection at the local and state level. Property tax valuation stability maintains the current structure for commercial and residential property taxes which fund public schools and other critical governmental services. 
• We support preservation of the statewide 20 mills levy as a tenet of the finance formula for public education, which affirms the equitable collection and use of taxpayer resources. Manipulation of the current 20 mills law and proposed reductions make this stable financial support another political bargaining chip, which harms the children of Kansas.
   

Health, Safety and Social and Emotional Well-Being
SMSD supports policies and funding that maintain and strengthen district capacity to provide a healthy and safe learning environment. Social-emotional growth continues to be a priority for communities and citizens across the state of Kansas, is one of five measured outcomes in the Kansans Can Vision for Education and is a legal requirement. The objectives of the SMSD Strategic Plan emphasize the need for students to develop personal resilience and the interpersonal skills to become engaged, empathetic members of the community.

SMSD supports policies and funding that support the social-emotional growth of students, along with their physical well-being, and will advocate to: 

• Maintain the authority of local boards of education to make decisions benefitting the health and well-being of students and staff, in collaboration with parental authorities and local and state public health authorities; Restore districts’ ability to engage their local community in addressing these issues, allowing districts to seek annual consent related to non-academic questionnaires.
• Support Medicaid expansion, which will increase health insurance coverage for a significant number of families in our community, promoting family access to health care; repeal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program restrictions; and support access to and maximize usage of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds, all of which will increase the opportunities for students to be successful in school. 
• Support increased funding and increased access to mental and behavioral health services for students and families, including support for suicide prevention services and programs. 
• Support flexibility of local school boards to implement policies, professional development, and programs to address the recommendations of the Bullying and Dyslexia task forces. 
• Support efforts to keep schools safe from gun violence, including financial support for threat assessment programs in schools, security upgrades, effective emergency planning assistance, and responsible firearm storage.
   

Support for Public Schools
Strong public schools, grounded in our state constitution, have been the foundation for the success of the state of Kansas, and are crucial to the future well-being of our democracy, in Kansas and across the nation. SMSD supports policies that maintain a strong federal role in public education while also supporting local non-partisan democratic control over public education in Kansas and rejects policies that would divert public resources to non-public entities, including private schools and home “schools.” To support these principles, SMSD will:

• Support maintaining the continued existence of the United States Department of Education (USDOE) so that it can continue its role in maintaining and enhancing public education. USDOE plays a critical role in:
  • Distributing funds to state and local education agencies, including specific grants to support students, schools and educators; 
  • Promoting equal access to public education for all, including those with disabilities and those who have suffered historic discrimination; and 
  • Enforcing civil rights legislation, including laws to support students with disabilities, and to prevent discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin and disability. 

SMSD will strongly advocate for enabling the USDOE to continue its mission, in order that all students might have access to a free and quality public education.

• Support legislation to repeal or reduce the private education tuition tax credit program, and oppose vouchers, corporate scholarships or similar programs, and oppose any efforts to divert public, taxpayer funds to private education savings accounts. 
• Advocate that all institutions receiving public money be held to the same standards of performance and accountability. 
• Support the authority of the State Board of Education and locally-elected school boards to adequately measure student achievement and educational success as granted by state statute in accordance with the Kansas Constitution and in conjunction with legislative oversight. We oppose grading schools and districts based solely on standardized tests or other static measures because that approach does not accurately reflect student performance, but rather is an indicator of poverty and other factors outside of schools. 
• Support maintaining non-partisan school board elections. 
• Support the sole authority of locally-elected school boards to approve charter schools, as granted by state statute in accordance with the Kansas Constitution, and require charter schools to operate with the same requirements as public schools. 
• Advocate against state laws which conflict with Federal law, including Title IX, in order to avoid the risk of unnecessary litigation. 
• The provisions of open enrollment the legislature passed during 2022 allow any student to move to any school district if the receiving school district has an open spot. There are no significant limitations, exclusions, or exceptions in the law. This law took effect during the 2024-25 school year and the state should monitor the implementation and potentially amend the law as needed. 
  • The annual administrative burden and cost of building and grade level assessments each year should be streamlined in the future to reduce the administrative burden accompanying the program. 
  • School districts and the state should monitor discrepancies among local tax burdens transferring students between home and receiving districts. 
  • KSDE should be encouraged to have a plan and resources to assist in any services and cost-related challenges for students with more costly disabilities.