Two Republican lawmakers are accusing the Kansas Supreme Court of trying to hold taxpayers and schoolchildren hostage with a ruling striking down an education funding law. “It looks fishy.” _ Kansas House Speaker Ray Merrick, a Stillwell Republican. Friction between the state supreme court and lawmakers has led to bills to change the selection process through partisan elections or gubernatorial appointments that are confirmed by the state Senate.
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Melcher called the decision “a temper tantrum”. “It’s kind of one of those things, ‘Give us the money or the kid gets it.'” _ State Sen.
Merrick told reporters that the timing of the ruling was fishy.
The Supreme Court suggested the Legislature could come into compliance by reviving the relevant portions of the previous school funding system and fully fund them within the current “block grant” system.
The Kansas Supreme Court struck down a stopgap law for funding the state’s public schools on Thursday, saying it left poor districts $54 million short.
Dave Trabert, president of the Kansas Policy Institute, a conservative think tank influential with GOP legislators, said lawmakers can comply by redistributing the state’s existing aid.
“The Legislature’s voluntary revival of these statutory provisions and funding consistent with them is certainly not the only path to compliance”, the court said.
New parts of the challenge have included the state getting rid of its old school funding formula and replacing it with new block grants.
The Shawnee District Court ruled SB 7 unconstitutional in June 2015, and the state appealed to the Supreme Court. The justices were clear in their ruling: If there is no acceptable remedy by June 30, “the schools in Kansas will be unable to operate”.
A three-judge panel concluded the state had not met either the equity or adequacy requirements.
The court gave lawmakers until June 30 to approve a new formula, report the Wichita Eagle, the Associated Press and the Kansas City Star.
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The lawsuit argues that poor districts, along with disadvantaged and minority students, were hurt most by the law. The high court has yet to decide on the larger question of whether Kansas must boost its education spending by at least $548 million a year. But many educators contend the 2015 block-grant law was unfair because it didn’t automatically increase a school district’s aid if it had more students or if a greater percentage of students had special needs. That means the Legislature must provide enough funds to ensure public school students receive a constitutionally adequate education and that funds must be distributed in a way that does not result in unreasonable wealth-based disparities among districts. In response, districts statewide cut programs, shed jobs and ended the 2014-15 school year early.
