Kansas Senate rejects bill limiting bargaining power of teachers unions

A bill that would have scaled back the power of teachers unions during contract negotiations was rejected by the Kansas Senate on Wednesday.

The Senate had passed a bipartisan plan, supported by both school boards and teachers unions, earlier in the session. But it gave initial passage to a more controversial proposal Tuesday. That proposal, offered by Sen. Jeff Melcher, R-Leawood, would have limited the unions’ power in contract negotiations and would have allowed districts to offer merit-based raises to individual teachers instead.

The bill, HB 2326, failed on a vote of 13-27 after the Kansas Association of School Boards had pressed lawmakers to oppose it in the hours after its initial passage.

The vote was initially closer, but when it became apparent the bill lacked the 21 votes needed to pass, some lawmakers who initially showed support changed their votes and opposed the measure.

This story was originally published March 25, 2015 at 5:32 PM with the headline "Kansas Senate rejects bill limiting bargaining power of teachers unions."