Kansas Insurance Commissioner 
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Course Approval Guidelines
General Requirements
Only courses that impart substantive and procedural knowledge relating to insurance and are beneficial to the insuring public subsequent to initial licensing shall be approved for credit. Approved courses shall be classified as life/health, property/casualty, general, crop only, title only, agency management, or ethics courses. Credit earned from general courses is acceptable in meeting the requirements for the life/health or property/casualty classification. Courses of the following types do not meet the basic criteria for approvable courses described above:
- Courses designed to prepare students for a license examination.
- Courses in mechanical office or business skills, including typing, speed reading, or use of calculators or other machines or equipment.
- Courses in sales promotion, including meetings held in conjunction with the general business of the licensee, time management, and motivational subjects.
- Courses which are primarily intended to impart knowledge of specific products of specific companies if the courses relate to the sales promotion or marketing of one or more of the products discussed.
The number of approved hours will not include time spent on introductions, breaks, or other activities not directly related to approved educational information or material.
Course examinations will not be required for approval of continuing education courses except self-study courses.
Course Submission
Providers shall submit proposed courses to the commissioner for pre-approval at least 30 days prior to the date on which the course is to be held. (Use current forms.) After courses have been approved, providers shall notify the commissioner at least 30 days prior to any subsequent course dates.
Courses cannot be advertised in any manner as approved unless the commissioner has granted approval, in writing.
Fees
All fees required for individual course approval shall be submitted with the course submission. If the provider elects to pay the prescribed fee for all courses, the fee shall be paid annually and shall be submitted with the first course submission each year. Subsequent course submissions should include documentation of prior fee payment. The fees are $50 per course per year or a $250 annual fee. The provider is eligible for the $250 annual fee only if the $250 is received with the first course submission. The $100 annual provider fee is due with the first course submission each year.
Facilities
Each course of study shall be conducted in a classroom or other facility that is adequate to comfortably accommodate the faculty and the number of students enrolled. The provider may limit the number of students enrolled in a course.
Self-Study Courses
The amount of credit received by an agent for a self-study course shall be based upon successful completion of the course and an independently monitored examination subject to the number of hours assigned by the commissioner.
Examination monitors shall not be affiliated in any way with the sponsoring organization or the licensee and shall be subject to approval by the commissioner. Any examination utilized or to be utilized shall be included in the material submitted for course approval. No examination will be approved unless the commissioner is satisfied that security procedures protecting the integrity of the examination can be maintained. If security is compromised, no credit will be granted.
Any sponsor of self-study courses shall clearly disclose to any agent wishing to receive credit in Kansas the number of hours for which that particular course has been approved by the commissioner.
Course Requirements
Each course of study shall have a coordinator who is responsible for supervising the course and assuring compliance with the statutes and regulations governing the offering of insurance continuing education courses.
Providing organizations shall maintain accurate records relating to course offerings, instructors, and student attendance. If the coordinator leaves the employ of the sponsor or otherwise ceases to monitor continuing education offerings, the records shall be transferred to the replacement coordinator or an officer of the provider. If a provider ceases operations, the coordinator shall be responsible for maintaining the records or providing a custodian of the records acceptable to the commissioner. In order to be acceptable, custodians shall agree to make copies of student records available to students free of charge or at a reasonable fee. Under no circumstances will the commissioner act as custodian of the records.
Providers shall provide students with course completion certificates on a form prescribed, KCE-4 (doc), or approved by the commissioner, within 30 days of completion of the course. A provider may require payment of the course tuition as a condition for receiving the course completion certificate.
Course Instructors
Instructors shall possess one of the following qualifications:
- Three years of recent experience in the subject area being taught; or
- a college degree related to the subject area being taught; or
- two years of recent experience in the subject area being taught and 60 classroom hours of acceptable course work in the subject area being taught;or
- an appropriate professional designation in the area being taught.
Instructors shall comply with all laws and rules pertaining to insurance continuing education, provide students with current and accurate information, maintain an atmosphere conducive to learning in a classroom, and provide assistance to the students and respond to questions relating to course material.
Notification To Commissioner
Providers, coordinators, and instructors shall notify the commissioner within 10 days after the occurrence of a felony or misdemeanor conviction or disciplinary action taken against an insurance or other occupational license held by the coordinator or instructor and any change of information contained in an application for course approval.
Housekeeping Details
Prior to any class, course administrators and instructors should advise participants that:
- Attendance for the entire class is necessary to obtain credit. There is no partial credit.
- Attendees should not engage in other activities during the class; e.g., there should be no reading newspapers, doing other work, opening mail, etc. (If the course administrator or instructor cannot enforce this, the provider should not have these individuals in charge, or the provider should not file for continuing education credit.)
- The agent is responsible for submitting proof of continuing education compliance to the Kansas Insurance Department. Material should be submitted when the entire requirement is finished to avoid last minute rush.
- The Course Certificate, KCE-4 (doc), should be provided within 30 days of the class. The KCE-4 is the only acceptable course certificate to be submitted for a Kansas resident agent.
- There should be no abuse of break time. (If it is 10 minutes, do not make it 15 minutes.)