The court said the state had “failed in (its) constitutional duty” to provide for at least a minimally adequate education for students in those districts.
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Justice Dan Biles suggested during the arguments that the court might have to target its order to helping underachieving students.
Many state policymakers push back on the notion that Kansas, which is set to spend $4 billion on schools this fiscal year, hasn’t prioritized education.
Justices Eric Rosen, left, Marla Luckert, center and Lawton Nuss listen to arguments in a school funding case at the Kansas Supreme Court Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016, in Topeka, Kan.
Attorney General Derek Schmidt said before Wednesday’s argument that the court should avoid becoming a “super-Legislature” enmeshed in the details of school funding.
But in an earlier ruling in the Gannon lawsuit, the court said it will no longer judge school funding adequacy in terms of the cost of providing services.
“Is the measure state comparison, or how students are actually doing?”
State House Speaker Jay Lucas and state Senate President Pro Tempore Hugh Leatherman had filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to vacate its jurisdiction in the case, arguing that – through the work of the House Education Policy and Reform Task Force and the Senate’s Special Committee – the state has addressed the concerns in the Abbeville suit.
Justices have not said when they plan to rule on the adequacy half of education funding.
“Obviously, if 32 percent of all students in a certain category, you can’t argue that that’s adequately meeting the needs of the students under the Rose factors”, he said.
“It is clear that increased funding will be required”, Rupe stated.
State solicitor general Stephen McAllister repeated often in his argument that more money doesn’t necessarily mean better results.
The state also will create a survey for education students about teacher recruitment and retention and will authorize a study analyzing education laws already on the books.
“You have to lift the whole boat”, said Wichita schools superintendent John Allison. I would say you can not cannibalize from one group of students and have success with another group of students. More than 70 percent of their students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, giving them more at-risk students than 90 percent of all districts in the state. The Supreme Court is not expected to issue its ruling until after the November election. He says he is “very pleased” with the Supreme Court’s order. He noted that his granddaughter, Katelyn, a Salina fourth-grader, was in the audience. The briefs also say that if the court orders the state to pay a specific dollar amount, that would violate the separation of powers. “Our clients stand ready to work with the Legislature and Governor Haley’s office in a collaborative fashion, as they have always have been, to do everything they can to help the students we represent”.
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“Common sense would tell us that if we cannibalize programs that are working and don’t infuse any additional dollars into the system, then that two-thirds majority that is achieving the proficiency levels that the standards call for will be hurt by that, and therein lies the never-ending hamster wheel”, she said.
