Kansas school choice expansion dies without veto override attempt
The measure would have raised the cap on private-school scholarship tax credits and opted the state into a new federal program.
TOPEKA, Kan. — An effort to expand Kansas' private-school scholarship program for low-income students is dead for the year after Republican legislative leaders opted not to challenge a veto by Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat. The House's inaction Friday ensures the state's existing tax credit cap remains unchanged and leaves a newly available federal tax benefit on the table for at least one funding cycle.
Kelly vetoed House Bill 2468 on Thursday, April 9. The measure was designed to raise the aggregate cap on the state's Low Income Students Scholarship Program, which provides state tax credits for donations that fund private-school scholarships. It also would have opted Kansas into a newly available federal tax credit for individual contributions to scholarship-granting organizations.
Despite school choice being a stated priority for Republican leadership, the House did not call a motion to reconsider the bill before the 2026 session concluded. The legislation had originally passed the House on a 76-44 vote — eight votes shy of the 84 needed to reach a two-thirds supermajority. It cleared the Senate 27-12, exactly meeting the supermajority threshold in that chamber.
Finding eight additional House Republicans willing to flip their votes proved too steep a climb in the session's final hours. The legislation faced pushback from public-school advocates in districts across the state, and earlier procedural votes — including lopsided tallies of 7-29 and 35-82 — indicated substantial cross-pressure within the GOP majority. Proponents of the expansion will not have another opportunity to advance the measure until the 2027 legislative session.
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