Kansas school funding still unconstitutionally inequitable

Kansas school funding still unconstitutionally inequitable

The Legislature’s funding of schools remains constitutionally inequitable, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled late Friday, reaffirming its June 30 deadline for lawmakers to fix the problem or have the state’s school system shut down. “In short, disparities (in funding) among the districts remain inequitable and unconstitutional,” the majority court opinion said.

The Legislature will have a chance to address the court finding when it meets Wednesday for its annual “sine die” session, ordinarily the ceremonial ending of the legislative year. It was not clear late Friday whether lawmakers would take up the contentious issue then.

“I will be talking with my colleagues in the Senate about the best course forward dealing with the Court’s ruling – a ruling which tramples the checks and balances enshrined in the state constitution,” Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, said in a statement.

Click to expand...

Justice Lee Johnson filed a separate opinion partially dissenting from the majority’s ruling.

He agreed with the majority that the Legislature had failed to fix the inequities but wanted to take a more aggressive stance on the remedy.

He said he would prefer that the court order the Legislature to return to its last constitutionally acceptable funding formula, which was repealed when the Legislature passed Brownback’s block grant plan.

Click to expand...

Somerville said:

Darn, that whole "cut taxes and regulations on business" thing just doesn't seem to be working for Kansas. For those who don't bother to read the linked page - the judges are referring to the Kansas State Constitution, not the US Constitution.



The fun part for those who notice that bit about the "majority ruling", the dissenting justice felt his fellows on the bench didn't go far enough in their reprimand of the GOP controlled state legislature

Click to expand...

Fenton said:

California students score at the bottom of the Nation in Math and Reading
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/28/california-students-score-near-bottom-in-math-and-reading.html

Click to expand...