Topeka ? Kansas officials are watching a school funding impasse in Little Rock, Ark., and hoping they aren’t seeing their own future.

“It’s exactly where we don’t want to be,” Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said of the Arkansas situation.

In Little Rock, the Arkansas Supreme Court is considering shutting down state services because legislators have failed to come up with a plan to resolve a 2002 court ruling that Arkansas’ school funding is unconstitutionally low and unfairly distributed.

The decision is similar to one in Kansas, though the Arkansas case has traveled higher up the appellate court ladder.

“Arkansas is a very good example of legislative leaders not paying attention, and now they’re really going to be forced by a court to do something that may or may not make sense to Arkansas taxpayers,” Sebelius said.

Wait or not

In Kansas, Shawnee County District Judge Terry Bullock ruled state funding was inadequate for all students and discriminates against minorities. He has given lawmakers until July 1 to overhaul the $2.6 billion system that distributes the funds.

Sebelius, a Democrat, has proposed increasing state income, sales and property taxes to fund a $304 million increase for schools in the next three years.

But Republican legislative leaders, who hold majorities in the Legislature, have said a tax increase would wreck the economy. They have recommended the state wait until the deadline on Bullock’s interim order has passed, then appeal his final order to the Kansas Supreme Court. Then, they argue, after the Supreme Court has ruled, the Legislature could work in earnest on school finance in 2005.

Two classmates get the giggles during a reading exercise at New York School. Working Monday, from left, were first-graders Senia Harris, Aletha Hardick and Cortney Phoenix III. Though some Kansas lawmakers plan to wait for the state Supreme Court to rule on school finance, a similar situation in Arkansas indicates the risk of such a delay.

“A number of us want to see what the Supreme Court will say,” said Rep. Kathe Decker, a Republican from Clay Center who heads the House Education Committee.

But the ranking Democrat on that committee, Rep. Bill Reardon of Kansas City, said such a strategy was a gamble.

“A number of state legislatures figured they’d be backed up by their Supreme Courts,” Reardon said. “They weren’t. The net effect is they lost control of schools and budgeting.”

He called Arkansas a perfect example of lawmakers playing chicken with the courts and losing.

Decker agreed Kansas didn’t want to follow Arkansas’ lead. But she said Kansas lawmakers would be better prepared to arrive at a solution once the Kansas Supreme Court had weighed in.

Salina official creates own school finance plan Sebelius ready to deal on education plan (1-24-04) Sebelius to present tax increase, school plan as package (1-23-04) School-finance plan hot topic at Capitol (1-22-04) Senators seek to speed up school finance lawsuit (1-21-04) See more about school finance

Arkansas impasse

An Arkansas legislator, Sen. Jimmy Jeffress, a Democrat from Crossett, Ark., said Kansas lawmakers should work on school finance as soon as possible.

“I’d recommend you fix it before you let the courts take over,” said Jeffress, a retired teacher and member of the Arkansas Legislature’s Senate Education Committee.

Jeffress was in week eight of a special legislative session on school finance while the Arkansas Supreme Court was breathing down the Legislature’s neck.

“You can’t always foresee probabilities. The conventional wisdom here said the court wouldn’t get back in, but they did,” he said.

Jeffress said he wasn’t familiar with what was happening in Kansas, but added, “If Kansas can work through theirs in a manner that would keep the court from taking over, I think that’s what they should do.”

Later this week, Arkansas’ high court is scheduled to hear arguments on whether to take funds from state services after the Legislature failed to come up with a new school funding system in last year’s four-month regular session and the current special session.

The Arkansas Legislature has been considering tax increases and consolidation of school districts but hasn’t been able to reach an agreement.

John Martellaro, president of Kansas Families United for Public Education, said the developments in Arkansas should serve as a “wake-up call” to Kansas legislators.

“This is only the latest in a series of state court actions across the country in recent years indicating that legislative inaction on unconstitutional school funding systems is profoundly risky behavior,” Martellaro said.

He called on lawmakers to compromise for the sake of the school system statewide.

“Legislators who refuse to accept half a loaf on school finance could well find themselves grasping for crumbs. If so, they will have no one to blame but themselves,” he said.