Board Excellence Newsletter, April 2025

 

From the Director for Extension: Legislative update

I am writing this article from the Public Issues Leadership Development (PILD) conference in Washington, DC. Our State Extension Advisory Council (SEAC) members (my advisory team of extension board representatives) and members of our professional associations attend PILD to learn more about our national Cooperative Extension system and how to advocate for it at the national, state, and local levels. PILD culminates with participants going to the capital to meet with Kansas’ U.S. senators and representatives about how extension positively affects our communities, state, nation and world.

To say that we are here during a time of change is probably an understatement. “Change” seems to be a common descriptor when talking about the political scene in Topeka and DC.

The state legislature took steps to streamline the legislative process. This meant that the intensity level of their work increased, too.

While the budget is not yet finalized, I can inform you that the ESARP budget line, which funds both the extension and research parts of K-State Research and Extension, has increased slightly. The budget line was increased to offset the raises that were approved for state workers. Bear in mind that not everyone employed by KSRE is funded by state dollars, so we will still face budgetary pressure to provide everyone with raises. Nevertheless, we were not given a budget cut like most state agencies are facing.

While our main source of funding increased, we did not receive funds to continue K-State 105 — our successful business and economic development program. The state seems to be reassessing how to invest its economic development funding, as we were not the only entity to have their business and economic development funding cut. We will continue to contribute to the state’s business and economic development, but we will no longer use the term “K-State 105” to describe those efforts.

As I am writing this, there has been no reduction in either our Smith-Lever funding (the federal funding that supports Cooperative Extension) nor our Hatch funding (the federal funding that supports our agricultural experiment stations). That funding will be influenced by the Farm Bill discussions.

This does not mean that we haven’t been temporarily or permanently impacted by some of the changes at the federal level. While Smith-Lever funds 7% of our extension budget, grants, contracts, and other funds finance 23% of our budget. Federal grants make up a significant portion of those funds. Many grants have been put on hold and will be evaluated on whether they should continue. While we in extension have not seen federal grant program cuts like the USAID cuts that our international agriculture development colleagues at K-State experienced, such cuts could come to the grant programs that help to fund our extension activities.

I will be presenting a legislative update at our April 24 Partnership Meeting. Stay tuned!

 

 

 

New Board Leadership Module: Reporting requirements

Reporting is a critical component of our work at K-State Research and Extension. Timely and accurate reporting helps showcase the efforts of extension professionals to local, state and federal stakeholders and comply with federal reporting requirements. Reporting is also key to the cooperative nature of K-State Research and Extension and the local unit.

As a board member, you should be aware of each agent’s reporting requirements. A new Board Leadership Module has been created to help board members understand reporting requirements, and what you can do to support agents in their reporting.

Go to the Reporting Requirements module

 

 

 

Coming this Fall: Changes to the agent performance review process

Extension board members have an important responsibility to provide input on agents’ performance reviews. Starting this fall, you will see some changes to the performance review process.

Kansas State University has designed a new performance review system that will be used across the entire university, including K-State Research and Extension. Fortunately, the university’s new performance review system is similar to KSRE’s existing process.

One advantage of this update is that it gives us the opportunity to incorporate the feedback we received from members of the State Extension Advisory Committee on how to improve the process for board members.

We are currently working to transition to the new performance review process. Our team will put the final touches on the agent self-assessment and board member feedback forms in the coming months.

We plan to share more details with agents at various meetings starting this month. We will share more information with board members at the April 24 KSRE Partnership Meeting and in the summer issue of the Board Excellence Newsletter.

 

 

 

 

Partnership Meeting: Date, locations and agenda

The next K‑State Research and Extension Partnership Meeting will be held April 24, 6-8 p.m. All local unit board members are encouraged to attend.

 

If you have suggestions or comments on the discussion questions, please email those to Gregg Hadley at ghadley@ksu.edu.

The registration deadline is April 18.

 

 

 

 

Program Spotlight: 2023–2024 Making a Difference report

Be sure to check out the 2023-2024 Making a Difference annual report, which highlights the impactful work of K-State Research and Extension. The report aims to spotlight our extension professionals’ and volunteers’ dedication and hard work to better lives and help communities thrive throughout Kansas.

Last month, copies of the report were mailed to each county to share with local stakeholders. Additional copies can be ordered through the KSRE Bookstore. You can also download the 2023-2024 Making a Difference Across Kansas (PDF) online.