Kline critical of judge’s action in school finance case

? The judge who declared the Kansas school finance system unconstitutional has refused to issue a final order, a decision that was criticized today by Atty. Gen. Phill Kline.

Kline said State District Court Judge Terry Bullock’s decision will delay resolution of the case.

“I find that disturbing,” Kline said. “It is delaying redress for the children that the court claims to be protecting,” he said during a news confernce.

Bullock ruled in December that Kansas schools were unconstitutionally under-funded and that the method of funding discriminated against minorities. He issued a preliminary order giving the Legislature until July 1 to fix the system.

But some state leaders have said they want Bullock’s decision reviewed by the Kansas Supreme Court before they act.

The Legislature approved a bill, signed into law by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, that would allow the state to appeal the preliminary order.

But Kline said there may be a legal challenge to that bill.

He said the school finance case would move quicker through the appeal process if Bullock made his preliminary order a final order.

On Friday, Bullock refused. In a letter to attorneys in the case, Bullock said he issued the preliminary order to give lawmakers time to fix the system. “The court believed then, and it believes now, that this was the right thing to do,” Bullock wrote.

Kline said on Monday he will file an appeal of Bullock’s decision in the school finance lawsuit to the state Supreme Court.


For more on this story, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Journal-World.