by Mary Rupert
A bill that would have changed teachers’ collective bargaining into individual or group bargaining was defeated in the Kansas House today.
State Rep. Val Win, D-34th Dist., said legislators amended it, doing a “gut and go” on it to include language from an earlier agreement in it.
The Professional Negotiations Act bill as it was adopted by the House Commerce Committee was opposed by the Kansas National Education Association and the Kansas Association of School Boards. Teachers’ groups said it would have created “chaos.” With the new language, the teachers’ groups are in support of it.
Rep. Winn is the ranking Democratic member of the House Education Committee.
“Right before I came today, I was able to kill a bill that would have been terrible for any school district negotiating contracts,” Rep. Winn said.
She was one of several legislators speaking against the former bill and in favor of the change made today. Other legislators and Rep. Winn were able to include a compromise version of the bill to replace the language allowing the individual teacher negotiations. The bill had bipartisan support.
The amendment by Rep. Sue Boldra, R-Hays, to House Bill 2326 passed on a 67-52 vote in the House. Final action on the bill will be Thursday in the House.
Rep. Winn added that she is still fighting to not repeal the “common core” standards.