This is the worry:
Kansas legislators will be convinced the price tag to improve state schools is so out of reach that they will propose changing the state constitution to lower the bar regarding student scores and graduation rates.
Ever since a requested report put the price tag at $1.7-$2 billion in additional funding, conservative legislators have said its impossible without severely impacting all of the states other functions.
No, they havent put pencil to paper. No, they havent considered the sacred cow, property taxes.
Instead, theyve primed the pump for outrage and have a constitutional amendment sitting ready in the wings.
The revised version would drop the requirement that public schools provide a suitable education.
Instead, theyll want us to settle for good enough.
Just as when you review job candidates, good enough is the goal, right?
Your daughters boyfriend; a little rough, but no worries. Sure.
When shopping for a new car, no need for a test drive.
Same for our schools, that clunker model still makes it around the corner. Stop your complainin.
THE OTHER motive to removing any qualifying factors is that it closes the door on school districts being able to file lawsuits claiming they are being shorted the necessary funds.
Conservatives loathe the Kansas Supreme Courts ability to be the final arbiter.
So up crops the Kansas Coalition for Fair Funding, a generous-sounding name for a group whose goal is anything but.
The KCFF is telling legislators theres no time to lose on amending the state constitution in order to prevent any future school lawsuits.
