photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

The Lawrence school district offices building, located at 110 McDonald Dr., is pictured in May 2025.

High school teachers in Lawrence could soon receive $1,000 per class per semester for teaching college-level classes under a new agreement between the school district and the University of Kansas.

As a part of the proposed agreement, instructors teaching the students participating in the Jayhawk Blueprint program will receive a payment of $1,000 per class per semester to recognize the additional responsibilities beyond the school district’s teaching duties and teaching courses for college credit. The extra compensation will be funded through KU and processed through the Lawrence school district, according to the agenda.

On Monday, school board members will consider approving the memorandum of understanding — a binding agreement outlining the partnership between Lawrence Public Schools and the University of Kansas — to provide teachers the money.

Additionally, the new agreement is expected to provide eligible students with “expanded access to postsecondary coursework during the regular school day, taught by university-approved high school instructors,” the agenda said.

The agenda did not elaborate further about how these offerings would be expanded, and the MOU was not included in the agenda as of Friday afternoon.

In 2020, the school district began offering concurrent courses to students at Free State High School and Lawrence High School through the Jayhawk Blueprint partnership with KU. Since the program was created, the partnership has steadily grown in student enrollment along with interest in the courses available in the program, according to the agenda.

As the Journal-World reported, a highlighted priority for the school district in the 2025-2026 school year is to strengthen the Jayhawk Blueprint course offerings across the high schools to encourage students to take college coursework and create a pathway to college access.

This agenda item is a part of the board’s consent agenda, where all items included are approved in one motion. There were no reports or new business scheduled for Monday’s meeting as of Friday afternoon.

In other business, school board members will:

• Consider increasing meal prices by $0.10 per meal for students and adults paying full price for the 2025-2026 school year. The vote was delayed at the school board’s last meeting, as the Journal-World reported.

Lunch prices for the upcoming school year would be set at $3.10 for elementary students, $3.30 for middle school students and $3.35 for high school students. Adult lunches would cost $5.10. Breakfast prices would be $1 less than lunch prices for all students and $2 less for adults. Reduced-price meals would remain unchanged at 40 cents for lunch and 30 cents for breakfast.

• Consider approving the payment of the district’s excess workers’ compensation insurance policy with an annual premium of $71,113 for the period July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026.

School board members will also consider renewing third-party administration of the district’s workers’ compensation program effective July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, from the Thomas McGee Group for an annual fee of $55,500.

• Consider approving the district’s property and liability insurance coverage for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, including educators’ legal liability coverage through the Kansas Insurance Cooperative for Schools, at an estimated cost of $1,395,144.

* Consider purchasing the FlexPoint platform, which is used by the Lawrence Virtual School, for an amount not to exceed $97,000.

• Consider purchasing 300 student licenses for the eDynamic Learning platform, which supports high school staff in delivering career and elective courses to students at the Lawrence Virtual School, for an amount not to exceed $63,000.

• Consider purchasing middle school replacement football uniforms from BSN Sports LLC in the amount of $39,110.

• Consider renewing the district’s IXL site license for English Language Arts classes for the 2025-2026 school year for the estimated amount of $36,875.

• Consider approving durables and consumables that are necessary to maintain and expand course offerings for the STEAM program at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School in an amount not to exceed $35,000.

* Consider adding $15,000 to an existing contract with BrightStar Staffing Contracted Services approved on July 22, 2024, to cover one-on-one nursing services required by students’ individualized education plans.

• Hold an executive session for the purposes of “evaluation of the Superintendent, discussion of personnel matters of non-elected personnel in order to protect the privacy interests of the individuals to be discussed.” No action will be taken after the session.

The board will meet at 6 p.m. on Monday at the district offices, 110 McDonald Drive. The meeting will also be available via the school district’s YouTube channel. Residents who want to share comments with the board may sign up in advance by emailing PublicComment@usd497.org by 6 p.m. Monday and may participate in person or via Webex video/phone conferencing.