Window on the West
Opinion column
by Mary Rupert
A proposed state constitutional amendment to prevent the judicial system from ruling on school finance issues is a power grab by one branch of government over another.
The Kansas Constitution allows for a balance of power between legislative, judicial and administrative branches.
Legislators have said they were elected to set the amounts of school funding and make other policy decisions, and that is correct. But the governor also was chosen to run the government, carry out the state’s policies and propose his or her budget, and the judiciary was elected to settle disputes fairly and to make sure justice is carried out throughout the state.
When things get out of whack in the legislative or administrative branches, we would hope there will still be some recourse for the citizens through the courts.
If citizens from Kansas City, Kansas, for example, feel that they have been cheated out of their fair amount of state educational funding, they should have recourse to the courts. If citizens feel their schools have not been paid their back payments in school funding by the Legislature, they should be able to sue.
So far, although the courts have ruled in favor of the schools, the Legislature has refused to pay the amounts ordered by the courts, although legislators are discussing it again currently this year. The Legislature’s past actions to ignore the court rulings and just do whatever they want does not set a good example for the students it says it is concerned about.
We can’t think of many other cases where one of the parties being sued can unilaterally decide that there will be no future cases or lawsuits – such a situation shows the flaws of our system. It is a conflict of interest for the Legislature even to consider such an amendment. The real constitutional amendment we should consider should be to prohibit one branch of government from unduly interfering with any other branch.
Such a power grab as a constitutional amendment to prohibit school finance lawsuits is the sign of a dictatorship, not a free society where people can rationally consider issues, make decisions and have the opportunity to appeal them to the courts.
Because the political pendulum swings back and forth in history, there will be a day sometime in the future that those who are in power now in Topeka will turn over the reins of government to another group, with a different philosophy. Current legislators ought to think about what they will do then if they disagree with that group. Will their backers and communities then still have recourse to the courts if this amendment passes?
To reach Mary Rupert, editor, email [email protected].