Topeka ? In a recent letter designed to push casual Republicans into contributing to their Grand Old Party, state party Chairman Dennis Jones warned against allowing Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to use school finance to make “another Democrat power grab.”

Jones also admonished fellow Republicans, telling them “it is absolutely time for school finance reform in Kansas! And the Kansas GOP should lead the charge!”

Meanwhile, the Legislature’s top Republican leaders have counseled caution, suggesting lawmakers should first let the Kansas Supreme Court settle a lawsuit filed against the state in 1999 by parents and administrators in the Dodge City and Salina school districts.

The debate began before Shawnee County District Judge Terry Bullock issued a preliminary order declaring the 1992 Kansas school finance law constitutionally flawed and giving the Legislature until July 1 to fix it.

Some leaders believe frustration with Bullock’s ruling will bind fellow Republicans together. Yet heading into 2004, the GOP hardly seems unified on school finance.

“My perception is that folks in the party are all over the map,” Jones said during a recent interview.

The 1999 lawsuit alleged the state underfunded its public schools, even though it provided $2.6 billion under the current budget. The lawsuit also said the state distributed the money unfairly, hurting efforts to help poor and minority students keep up with wealthy and white counterparts.

Bullock rejected the notion that money didn’t matter in educational quality, then said the 1992 law did distribute funds unfairly. In one passage, he suggested fixing the problems could cost as much as an additional $1 billion annually.

Party plans

Sebelius already has promised to submit a school finance plan when the Legislature’s 2004 session convenes Jan. 12.

“I think it’s very wise for the legislators and for me as governor to look very seriously at the road map that he painted in terms of where the inequities are in our system,” she said during her Friday news conference.

In his letter, Jones suggested that Sebelius wanted “another large, inefficient, ineffectual Topeka bureaucracy.”

Democrats find such statements laughable, of course, because of Sebelius’ work to make government more efficient. For example, the state now plans to sell unused government vehicles, something Sebelius’ predecessor, Republican Bill Graves, specifically declined to do.

Jones’ bigger point is that Republicans should guide the school finance debate. Doing so should be within their power, also, because of their majorities, 79-46 in the House and 30-10 in the Senate.

But school finance tends to be a divisive issue. Each legislator knows, thanks to computer reports from the Department of Education, how a plan will affect each district and how each district will fare compared with every other one.

The issue also pits Republicans of differing philosophical stripes against each other because of money.

Many legislators assume that any real change in the school finance law requires extra money. Without more dollars, helping one school district or group of districts means taking money away from others.

And talking about more spending threatens to cleave the Republican Party.

Key issues

During the mid-1990s, many Kansans perceived abortion as a key issue within the GOP. In recent years, education funding has been the key issue.

In 2002, Graves championed a tax increase to shore up the state budget, particularly public schools. While Democrats represented a source of grief to him in arguments about how to raise money, conservative Republicans wanted no tax increase.

The division within the GOP still remains, with moderates talking about more money to cash-starved schools and conservatives providing figures to show that school districts have been well fed.

However, Jones, a Lakin attorney, talks about local control, arguing like other western Kansas residents that the 1992 law stripped local boards of education of much of their power. In his letter, sent to potential GOP donors in November, just before Bullock ruled, Jones called local control a “core principle.”

Bullock’s decision suggested that every dollar raised for schools — state or local — is a state dollar. He declared that the responsibility of providing a suitable education ultimately lies with the Legislature.

Thus, when reviewing Jones’ letter urging action, not waiting, Senate President Dave Kerr quickly saw Jones’ comments about local control as an area where he and the party chairman agreed.

“I think that the judge has provided such an extreme opinion, it is probably a uniting force,” said Kerr, R-Hutchinson. “We’re determined to take a balanced approach and not be bullied.”