Schmidt asks Supreme Court to approve new school finance plan

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt today asked the Kansas Supreme Court to quickly approve the new school finance plan signed into law yesterday by Gov. Sam Brownback.

In a Notice of Legislative Cure filed today with the Supreme Court, Schmidt said the new legislation “complies with this Court’s Opinion … and is reasonably calculated to have all Kansas public education students meet or exceed” the requirements established by the court.

Noting that the court had given the Legislature only until June 30 to bring the Kansas school-funding system into compliance with the state Constitution, Schmidt asked the court to complete its review of the new legislation before then or to extend that deadline. If the deadline passes without an approved school-funding system in place, the existing law authorizing money for schools will be invalidated, effectively shutting off funding for the state’s public school system and closing schools.

On Thursday, the governor signed the school finance bill, and an attorney for the school district plaintiffs in the Gannon case said he expected more court action. The attorney for the school districts did not think the amount allocated by the Legislature met the court’s directive of “adequate funding.”

See earlier story at https://wyandotteonline.com/more-court-action-anticipated-on-school-finance-bill-that-was-signed-today/.