A bill that would prohibit most students from being required to take diversity, equity and inclusion-related classes in order to get a degree at a Kansas university began to make its way through the Statehouse Tuesday.

It also got some dollar signs attached to it as it begins its journey.

The University of Kansas has estimated it will cost $1.8 million next year to implement House Bill 2428, which has become known by many as the Freedom from Indoctrination Act. KU told state lawmakers in a required fiscal note that the university likely would have to hire the equivalent of 12 full-time employees to teach new courses that the bill would mandate.

The House Education committee heard that fiscal estimate at a hearing Tuesday afternoon, which was the first step in moving the bill forward for a potential vote during the legislative session. Members of the Education committee also heard from a lobbyist of the state’s largest teacher’s union and from the leader of the state chapter of the American Association of University Professors, who both strongly opposed the bill.

But members of the Education committee also heard from multiple Republican-lawmakers and a handful of citizens who said the bill is urgently needed because DEI-related content has seeped its way into nearly every type of class, and is teaching messages that end up promoting discrimination by promoting that certain classes of people should receive certain benefits due to their race or gender, for example.

“It will simply be saying that you should look at a person as an individual and listen to their perspectives as an individuals, but that we shouldn’t be giving benefits to a person, or taking away something because of their race, because of the ancestry, because of their sexual preference,” Rep. Bob Lewis, R-Garden City, and a supporter of the bill, said.

While the committee heard from several members who said supporters of the bill were mischaracterizing the function and purpose of DEI initiatives, many of the people testifying against the bill focused on how they believe it would violate the rights of professors and students.

Tim Graham, director of government relations and legislative advocacy for the KNEA, said university faculty members represented by his organization believe the law would have a “very chilling effect” on academic freedom.

Gene Rice, a Fort Hays State professor and a leader of the Kansas Conference of the American Association of University Professors, told the committee that the bill could lead to many programs losing their academic accreditations, and would lead to professors leaving the state.

“What I see happening is legislators telling disciplines and practitioners what they should be teaching and researching, and that is fundamentally wrong” Rice said.

As the Journal-World has reported, House Bill 2428 is modeled after a proposal crafted by the Goldwater Institute, an Arizona-based advocacy group that touts the benefits of limited government, economic freedom, and individual liberty. It is working to get legislatures across the country to adopt a bill called the Freedom from Indoctrination Act.

The bill contains several key provisions, including:

• The act wouldn’t technically stop universities from offering classes that teach or even promote concepts associated with DEI. However, the act would prohibit universities from requiring students to take any of those classes in order to receive a degree from the university. The bill has limited exceptions, including for degree programs in women or gender studies, for example.

• The act provides a far more specific definition of DEI-related content than what currently exists in state law. Topics that would be considered DEI related — and thus barred from being a requirement of degree programs — include: whiteness; systemic racism; institutional racism; microaggressions; systemic bias; gender identity; social justice; race-based reparations; and gender-based equity, among other topics.

• Universities also would be prohibited from what they can ask faculty members to do as it relates to DEI practices. Schools could not require or incentivize faculty members to participate in workshops or training related to DEI issues. Schools also couldn’t force or encourage instructors to distribute any materials related to DEI issues.

In addition to limiting DEI topics in university classrooms, the proposed act also would require universities to teach every student certain topics. The act would require all undergraduate degree programs to include at least one course that focuses on the “study of American institutions.”

The act creates a detailed definition of what such a course must include. Such a course must teach the following:

• An “understanding and appreciation” of the U.S. Constitution and the role of “limited federal government,” the “dual sovereignty of the States,” separation of powers in the federal system, and the network of checks and balances that exist in the Constitution.

• The concept of equal protection under the law and freedom of speech also must be taught, and the course should discuss landmark supreme court cases that have “shaped law and society.”

• The course must include “significant use” of founding documents, including the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Federalist Papers.

The creation of that class is one of the major reasons the University of Kansas is estimating the bill will cost nearly $2 million per year to implement. In a written fiscal note — a common requirement for bills proposed in the Legislature — KU officials estimate the year one cost of complying with the new law would be $1.8 million, with about $1.3 million of those costs related to hiring professors and graduate teaching assistants to staff the new class that every student at the university would be required to take.

Kansas State estimated it would require $2.1 million in new state funding to comply with the act, while smaller universities including Emporia State, Fort Hays State and Pittsburg State estimated the cost to comply would be nominal to about $600,000 per year, depending on the institution.

The Kansas Board of Regents, which oversees the entire public education system in the state, said it anticipated significant costs to comply with the act, but could not currently provide a dollar estimate. The Regents estimated it would have significant costs to review the content of more than 100 classes in a one-year period, among other issues.

Tuesday’s hearing by the Education Committee was a key step in moving the bill forward but not nearly the final step. The bill would need approval by the full House and the full Senate before it could become law. It also would need the signature of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, although the bill could become law without the governor’s signature if it gains enough votes to override any veto measure.

Generally, the bill would need to win approval in the Kansas House by Feb. 19 in order for it to be considered by the Kansas Senate this session, based on a legislative calendar that lawmakers have approved.