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HB 2138

Promoting outdoor learning in state parks.

2023-2024 Regular Session Introduced by Andrew Barkis and 8 co-sponsors

Kansas districts may voluntarily levy up to 2 mills for school safety, security, and ADA upgrades; proceeds join capital-outlay aid, with protest rights and election protections.

Referred to Appropriations.
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Bill Summary · HB 2138

Summary — HB 2138 (2025)

Status: Introduced Jan. 28, 2025; Referred to House Committee on Education (filed Jan. 29, 2025). Fiscal note issued Feb. 19, 2025.

Purpose / intent

HB 2138 authorizes Kansas public school districts to adopt a new, voluntary annual tangible property tax levy (up to 2 mills) to fund school building safety and security projects and school building work needed to achieve or maintain compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The bill also treats the levy as part of a district’s capital outlay levy for purposes of state capital outlay aid equalization.

Key provisions

  • Authority to levy:
    • A local board of education may adopt an annual tax levy up to 2 mills on taxable tangible property in the district for:
    • acquisition, construction, reconstruction, repair, remodeling, additions to, furnishing, maintaining, and equipping school property and equipment necessary for school safety and security; and
    • school building work to achieve or maintain ADA compliance.
    • Additionally, proceeds may be used to pay a portion of principal and interest on city-issued bonds for redevelopment projects located on school property, but only for redevelopment districts established prior to July 1, 2025.
  • Adoption process and limits:
    • The levy requires a board resolution in specified form and must be published once weekly for two consecutive weeks.
    • A protest petition may be filed within 40 calendar days after publication if signed by at least 10% of the qualified electors in the district. If such a petition is filed, the levy must be submitted to voters at a special election or the next general election.
    • If no petition is filed, the board may implement the levy as specified.
    • The bill contemplates initial resolutions (up to five years) and allows a second resolution to increase a previously specified lesser mill rate up to the two-mill cap for the remainder of the five-year period.
    • If a board fails to act on a petition within 60 days, the resolution is deemed abandoned and cannot be readopted within nine months of first publication.
  • Fiscal treatment:
    • Any levy under this act is part of a district’s aggregate capital outlay levy and will be equalized in the Capital Outlay State Aid determination by the Kansas Department of Education.
  • Interaction with property tax abatements:
    • Subsection (f) clarifies that ad valorem tax exemptions granted after July 1, 2025 (by Board of Tax Appeals under constitution section 13 or statute) for property purchased with revenue bond proceeds do not exempt such property from this school district levy, with narrow exceptions for exemptions approved before July 1, 2025.

Who is affected

  • School districts: may voluntarily adopt the new levy to fund safety, security, ADA compliance, and certain redevelopment-related bond payments.
  • Local taxpayers / qualified electors: will bear the additional mill levy if the board adopts it (subject to petition/election rights).
  • Cities issuing redevelopment bonds on school property (for districts with redevelopment districts established before July 1, 2025): may receive partial payment from levy proceeds in qualifying cases.
  • State agencies: Kansas Department of Education will incorporate the levy into capital outlay aid equalization calculations; Department of Revenue involved in levy administration.

Fiscal impact and timing

  • The Division of the Budget states the fiscal effect cannot be reliably estimated because it depends on how many districts choose to levy the tax and how many qualify for state equalization payments. The fiscal note notes high demand for school safety funding: in FY2025, 213 districts applied for a Safe and Secure Schools Grant Program in which $5.0 million was available but requests exceeded $12.0 million, suggesting some districts might opt to use this new levy.
  • Any fiscal effects are not reflected in the FY 2026 Governor’s Budget Report.

Statutory changes

  • The bill would add a new section authorizing the levy and would amend/repeal specified K.S.A. sections (K.S.A. 12-1770a and 72-53,126 as noted).

If enacted, HB 2138 would create a locally controlled funding mechanism (up to two mills) targeted at school safety/security and ADA compliance projects while integrating that levy into the state capital outlay aid equalization framework and preserving voter protest/election protections.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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