Legislative action to boost education funding statewide is a better solution than levying local sales taxes for that purpose.

Local city and county officials have expressed willingness to look at levying a half-cent sales tax to help school districts in the county. A public vote on such a measure could be on the ballot in November 2004.

That puts this issue a year and one more session of the Kansas Legislature into our future. That will give state officials one more chance to take statewide action on the issue of funding public schools before communities like Lawrence have to face some tough choices.

If Douglas County seeks a sales tax to help public schools, it would be following the lead of Johnson County, which already has approved such a tax. The legality of the county levying a sales tax to benefit the school district, however, is being challenged in court by Wyandotte County, which believes the Johnson County tax undercuts the state’s obligation to provide equal education opportunities for all Kansas children.

The levying of city or county sales taxes for public schools also could come into question when Shawnee County District Judge Terry Bullock considers how the state allocates $2.6 billion to poorer and more wealthy school districts across Kansas. Bullock more or less wrote the book on the state’s school finance formula with his earlier ruling on the issue.

Douglas County and Johnson County appear to comprise a small island of Kansans willing to pay more taxes to help public school districts. In most other parts of the state, there is little backing for raising taxes to provide more funding for K-12 education.

It would be wonderful if Kansans and their legislators from across the state would have a change of heart on this issue. A group of freshmen legislators led the charge for additional funding at the end of the 2003 session and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who declined to recommend such increases this year, has acknowledged that it might be necessary to consider them in 2004.

If additional state funding is approved in the 2004 session, Douglas County residents and officials might be spared the hard decision on levying a sales tax for education. Douglas County already is at the limit of its sales tax authority and would have to get legislative approval to seek an increase. A Lawrence tax could only benefit Lawrence schools although it would be collected from every county resident who shops here.

The sales tax also is unpalatable to many voters because of its impact on low-income residents and the fact that sales taxes only go one way: up. The city and county also might be called upon to rethink their taxing priorities. The county already levies a one-cent sales tax dedicated to operating the jail and funding the parks and recreation budget. Could any of that sales tax revenue be used to help the schools, thereby lessening the need for an additional tax?

Douglas County residents support education. Perhaps they even are willing to support it with a higher sales tax. But a better option would be for state lawmakers to deal with this statewide issue in a way that maintains the quality of K-12 education across the state and benefits all Kansas students.