Another chapter in the Kansas school finance case is expected to be heard today by the Kansas Supreme Court.
Janet Waugh, of Kansas City, Kan., a Kansas Board of Education member from the 1st District, said on Monday that her opinion is that the courts probably will not accept what the Legislature has passed this year. She said she believes the state has presented the school finance figures in a way that looks like there is more funding, when there was actually not.
The courts on Feb. 11 in the Gannon case said that previous legislation had not fixed the problem of inequity, and ordered the Legislature to come up with a solution. Another school finance bill then was passed.
The Kansas City, Kan., Public Schools is one of the plaintiffs in the court case. Arguments are being heard today and a decision is not expected today in the case.
“Given the state’s failure to cure the inequities affirmed by this court, this court has the equitable power to remedy the unconstitutionalities in various ways,” the plaintiffs stated in their April 25 brief.
The state argued in its April 25 brief that House Bill 2655 complied with the court’s directives and fully restores the previous capital outlay equalization formula, which the court already declared to be constitutional, cured any local option budget inequities with the same previous formula. The state argued that “if any remedy is required, it should be to sever any unconstitutional provisions in the most narrow and targeted way necessary to eliminate the constitutional violation.
“Ordering that Kansas schools be shut down is neither a necessary nor a judicially proper remedy,” the state argued.
If the courts do not accept the Legislature’s recently passed school finance law, it’s likely the court will order them to produce something else, Waugh said. That could result in a special session of the Legislature.
The question then becomes, will the courts accept the second legislative solution, she said. If they don’t, time may run out to comply with the court’s order to fix the situation by June 30, with schools facing the possibility of being closed June 30.