Topeka ? A Kansas business executive says the state’s school districts are failing to comply with a law requiring them to buy supplies manufactured by the blind and severely disabled.

“Terrible. Beyond words,” said Linda Merrill, chief executive officer of Envision, which employs blind people at facilities in Wichita, Pittsburg and Kansas City, Kan.

The state’s 300 school districts are required by law to purchase items such as trash bags, printer cartridges and air filters from the disabled when at all possible. Merrill said part of the problem is lack of awareness by school districts of the law. Other concerns have been raised about the product quality, pricing and delivery.

Merrill said reforms put in place by legislators last session may improve the situation.

Legislators created an 11-member committee to monitor laws related to industries for the disabled. Merrill is part of that committee, which is responsible for maintaining a list of qualified vendors. The Kansas Department of Administration will handle the catalog of products, taking over for the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.

“The hope is to bring together all the stakeholders,” Merrill said. “It also provides a forum for complaints.” Overall, she said, sales by companies involved in the manufacturing program should increase.

Participants include Cartridge King of Kansas, McPherson; Center Industries Corp., Wichita; Flint Hills Services, El Dorado; Kansas Elks Training Center for the Handicapped (KETCH), Wichita; Occupational Center of Central Kansas, Salina; Training and Evaluation Center of Hutchinson (TECH); and Envision, Wichita.

Gary Menke, director of purchasing for the Topeka school district, said the district consistently purchases items in the state catalog, with purchases totaling $100,000 depending on demand. The district buys about 700 cases of trash bags from Envision.

“We support the program,” Menke said. “A lot of schools have not paid attention to it.”

Mike Jones, district director of fiscal services, said one obstacle keeping the Topeka schools from making more purchases is competitive pricing. The cost of refilling toner cartridges with one of the companies in the network would be $40 more per unit than it now costs on the open market, he said.

Jones said a state use law that mandates participation without sufficient regard for price takes on the look of a subsidy paid with money that might have gone to the classroom.

“We definitely understand that if a customer is being mandated to buy from us, we have the obligation to be price-competitive,” said Merrill, of Envision.

Merrill said purchasing more products would help put more disabled Kansans to work. She said the unemployment rate for blind people hovers around 70 percent. Envision employs 350 people, of which nearly half are legally blind.

“Where does independence come from?” she said. “It comes from having a job and money to make decisions that control your own life. Rather than receiving entitlements from the state and federal governments, our employees earn a living, provide useful services and products, and pay taxes.”