Well 2022-23 was a heck of a ride, amirite? The “end” of a novel pandemic; a “novel” Unicameral session; real angry folks all over the place; and oh yeah, some herculean efforts to provide an awesome education in the middle of a staffing crisis. First and foremost, congrats and great work!
You’ve been asking about policy updates, and we finally got some clarity. With the passage of LB 705 (the education Christmas tree bill), most of the state-level policy updates are becoming clearer.
Here are a few key policy changes that LB 705 will require:
Major changes to student discipline policies and practices. There are new timelines across the process, hearing officer challenges, and prohibitions on suspension of younger students. Now don’t you fret Boba Fett--KSB plans to offer training for administrators and hearing officers this summer, along with new discipline forms, to get you ready for the new law.
Major changes to option enrollment, particularly addressing option enrollment for students receiving special education services.
Major changes to part-time enrollment and participation in extracurricular activities.
FAFSA, youth organizations and access, behavior intervention training, and quite a bit more.
If you are a KSB policy service subscriber, here is our plan for getting you the updated policies you will need after the legislative session ends:
June 2: KSB will release our policy update packet.
June 7: KSB will hold our annual policy updates webinar (link sent later, and it will be recorded and shared for those who can’t make it live).
June 12: Likely board meeting date for most schools.
June 16 (or before): KSB plans to release our handbook updates
Before we close the book on the 2023 policy updates, here’s what could shake things up:
If the Unicameral moves any other education-impacting bills through in the last few days, we will adjust but still plan to get out everything we can by that first week of June. July meetings are already packed with hearings and reviews, so we felt strongly about giving you the option of getting as much updating done in June as possible.
The U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) is expected to release updated Title IX regulations any day now. They’ve promised May 2023, but they’ve been late before. If you remember 2020 (LOL) they released regulations in May effective in August. The newest regs as proposed would require training for ALL staff, so if that sticks, the effective date will greatly impact additional policy updates and training schedules. We plan to do on-demand training again, if needed.
The USDOE just finished up a 30-day public comment period on its proposed gender participation in athletics rule under Title IX. Reminder--the proposed rule would ban categorical restrictions but permit schools to make participation decisions using important educational objectives such as competitive fairness and prevention of injury. If this rule becomes final and effective, it will require policy changes at some point.
Oh, and the USDOE is also working on new Section 504 and FERPA regulations. Let’s hope they have enough on their plates for 23-24.
This is certainly enough to chew on for now, but if you have any questions about the policy updates for this year, drop us a line at ksb@ksbschoollaw.com or give us a shout at 402-804-8000.