The Kansas Supreme Court today ruled that the Legislature has satisfied its court order for equitable funding of schools.
“It’s official,” Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said in response to today’s decision. “The Legislature has satisfied the Constitution’s requirement for equitable school funding, and Kansas public schools will remain open and operating.”
In the case, Gannon vs. Kansas, four school districts including the Kansas City, Kan., Public Schools sued the state of Kansas claiming that school finance was not equitable and not adequate.
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled the earlier plan by the Kansas Legislature was not equitable, setting in motion a special session held last week to come up with a new school finance bill before June 30.
That new school finance law, signed by the governor this week, was accepted today by the Kansas Supreme Court as satisfying its requirements on the equity portion of the lawsuit.
The adequacy portion of the lawsuit still needs to be addressed. The court stated today that oral arguments on the adequacy portion of the lawsuit would be set at a future date.
The court order is online at http://www.kscourts.org/Cases-and-Opinions/opinions/SupCt/2016/20160628/113267.pdf.
To see an earlier story about the school finance law, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/school-finance-agreement-seen-as-tremendous-victory-for-public-education/.