TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas lawmakers are looking for hopeful hints from the state Supreme Court that theyve increased education funding enough to satisfy the justices and head off any potential threat of a court order shuttering public schools.
But attorneys for four school districts suing the state were preparing to argue this morning that the plan lawmakers and Gov. Jeff Colyer settled on this spring, a $548 million increase phased in over five years, still falls as much as $1.5 billion short of providing a suitable education for every child. The Supreme Court is hearing arguments in a lawsuit filed by the districts in 2010, when this years high school graduates were fifth-graders.
The court ruled in October that the states current education funding of more than $4 billion a year isnt sufficient under the Kansas Constitution, even with an increase approved last year. The school districts want the justices to declare that legislators are still short and to order lawmakers to approve more spending by the end of June.
The justices have promised only to issue their next ruling by June 30. In past hearings, theyve peppered attorneys for the state and the school districts with questions and have not been shy about expressing frustration with lawmakers.
What we are interested in is having the Legislature live up to the courts charge, said Alan Rupe, the school districts lead attorney. What the Legislature has come up with is a plan that falls way short.
Colyer, who is Republican, and the GOP-controlled Legislature have worried that if the court isnt satisfied, it will declare that the state cannot distribute its education dollars through an unconstitutional funding formula effectively keeping schools closed until legislators approve a fix.
The court threatened to do just that in 2016 to get lawmakers to increase aid to poor school districts. But Rep. Fred Patton, a Topeka Republican and chairman of a special House committee on school funding, said he would be shocked if the court went that far this time.
You cannot argue that we did not put in a substantial amount of money and school districts wont benefit, Patton said.
But the districts attorneys note that a study commission by legislators this year said improving schools could cost as much as $2 billion more a year, depending on the states ambitions for improving standardized test scores and graduation rates.
You cannot argue that we did not put in a substantial amount of money and school districts wont benefit.
Rep. Fred Patton, R-Topeka
