Feature Story

During the seventh week of the 2025 legislative session, numerous education-related bills had hearings in either the House or Senate education committees or were moved to other non-education committees to keep them alive.  

Bill Tracker 

The following bills have been passed out of their chamber of origin: 

Sub for HB 2007: Making and concerning supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2025, and appropriations for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 for KSDE and various state agencies. 

• Passed as amended in the House 83-36. It was received and introduced in the Senate, then referred to the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. 

Liz Anstine believes a child’s passions for what they may want to pursue later as a career should be fostered by Career and Technical Education (CTE) principles all along the continuum of a student’s education. 

“Maybe in third grade, you wanted to be a firefighter, maybe in fourth grade you wanted to paint nails, maybe in fifth grade, all of a sudden, you're interested in feeding the homeless because you did that as a project,” said Anstine, the 2025 Kansas Teacher of the Year. “So now we want to help drive that (passion) for them and help them make sure that they're keeping that purposeful curiosity. I'm so big on that because it's going to make their story bigger because they've kind of learned about all of these things along the way.” 

Most teachers can easily point to what they love and what is difficult about being an educator. What makes a teacher remain in the profession, however, is the most important sentiment a veteran teacher can convey when mentoring a student teacher, according to Kirsten Nelson, an educator lecturer at Washburn University.  

“Show the challenges and rewards,” she said, “and share how you keep going…and why you stay.”  

Nelson facilitated a break-out session about mentoring during this week’s Kansas Exemplary Educators Network (KEEN) conference, in Topeka, sponsored by the Kansas State Department of Education. The discussion featured two Washburn University education majors who shared their experiences when they were placed in a classroom.  

Members of the 2025 Kansas Teacher of the Year team have been celebrating #LoveTeachingWeek, Feb. 14-21, in videos posted on the Kansas State Department of Education’s social media channels.

This special week, started by teachers in 2015, is a national grassroots campaign to celebrate teaching, leading and learning in a way that unites and invigorates educators.

The team members, along with Liz Anstine, 2025 Kansas Teacher of the Year, share their stories about why they chose the profession and how their students inspire them every day.

At least eight education-related bills have been passed out their originating chamber this week. They will now head to the other chamber.