Topeka ? After years of legal maneuvering, Kansas’ system of funding public schools goes on trial Monday.

But the verdict is already in for Lawrence school administrators who have often judged the state guilty of shortchanging students.

“The Legislature hasn’t really addressed the real issue, and that is that they need to fund education at a proper level,” said Kathy Johnson, the Lawrence school district’s budget director.

“A finance formula doesn’t work unless it’s funded adequately, and as long as the state doesn’t fund the formula in a manner that keeps up with inflation, there won’t be a finance formula,” she said.

Lawrence isn’t directly participating in the court battle, but the trial’s outcome will affect public school students all across Kansas, including Lawrence.

Minority students and students with disabilities in the Dodge City and Salina school districts say the state doesn’t spend enough on education, and the money it does spend, it allocates in a manner that discriminates against them.

For example, the two districts, with large minority populations, are too large to qualify for extra funding that goes to predominantly Anglo districts in rural areas that have fewer than 1,725 students.

“In many cases, public school districts qualifying for low enrollment weighting receive more than twice as many dollars as those districts which do not qualify for such weighting,” the plaintiffs alleged in court filings.

And school districts are allowed to enhance local funding by additional taxes; a system that benefits wealthy schools districts.

¢ School financing trial attorneys meet with judge (9-16-03)¢ Judge stresses equality’s role in school funding (9-9-03)¢Montoy v. State of Kansas — Memorandum Decision and Order¢Letter from Bullock on his decision¢Freshman legislators ready for school fight, part II (8-24-03)

“Low property wealth school districts must undertake greater local tax efforts than high property wealth districts in order to raise an equal amount of funds,” the lawsuit states.

As far as overall funding, the state spends more than half of its budget — about $2.6 billion — on schools, but in recent years, per-pupil spending has remained flat. The base state aid per pupil is $3,863 for the current school year, the same as it was for the previous year.

Attorneys representing the state have defended the current system as constitutional and said any changes should be made by the Legislature without interference from the court.

State District Court Judge Terry Bullock, who is presiding over the case, said in a pretrial conference, “You’ve got two questions:

Are we treating the children equally; and is the totality (of funding) sufficient to an adequate education?”

But as legal arguments persist, some districts are taking matters into their own hands.

Last year, Johnson County voters approved increasing their sales tax to generate about $45 million over three years for six school districts.

Neighboring Wyandotte County filed a lawsuit saying the tax was unfair because it gives Johnson County, a wealthy area, a significant advantage over school districts in other parts of Kansas.

Lawrence school officials have proposed a sales tax increase similar to Johnson County’s.

And while Lawrence school officials concede it will further widen disparity in funding between districts, they say they have no choice.

“At some point, if the state is not going to take the responsibility, then it doesn’t leave districts much choice but to find an alternative so that they can continue to have good education in their communities,” Johnson said.

“If the state Legislature won’t do what is needed to fund the formula, that is what is going to happen,” she said.