Topeka ? The Legislature’s school finance package fails to comply with a Kansas Supreme Court mandate to improve education funding, an attorney for the State Board of Education said in a legal filing today.

Dan Biles, the board’s lead attorney, said legislators, whose plan increases annual spending on public schools by $127 million, failed to respond to the court’s order in January to base spending on actual costs of educating the state’s 440,000 students. The board is a defendant in a school finance lawsuit before the justices.

“Until legitimate cost studies can be completed to verify the adequacy of school funding, HB 2247 standing alone cannot be found to provide, or even presumed to be, full compliance with constitutional mandates as now interpreted by this court,” Biles wrote, referring to the bill containing the plan. “At best, HB 2247 is an interim step.”

The court ordered Biles and attorneys representing the state to file legal arguments by today and scheduled a May 11 hearing. Attorneys for school districts that sued the state in 1999 must file briefs by May 5.

Legislators completed work on the school funding package, which relies on existing state revenues, on March 30 before they took a three-week recess. The package would provide the largest increase in school funding in recent years and would be in addition to the current $2.7 billion in annual state aid.

Attorney General Phill Kline, speaking to reporters during a conference call from New York, said the Legislature’s measure would close the per-pupil spending gap between districts. Districts relying on local taxes often receive less money from the state because they generally do not benefit from other provisions in the school finance formula, such as those providing additional funds for at-risk students or for having a small enrollment.

Kline dismissed Biles’ concerns about fairness, citing a recent report by the magazine Education Week giving Kansas high marks in funding. Kline said the board was making “a false calculation and some false assumptions.”

Biles said the increased state spending should be viewed as a “good faith effort” toward addressing the court’s mandate, and the court should allow that part of the package to become law. That law would let districts begin planning for the next school term, which begins in August, he said.

However, Biles said, the court should strike provisions allowing local districts to increase property taxes, while directing legislators to base future costs on the funding necessary to have students meet state and national academic standards.

The court should retain jurisdiction over the case, he said, without becoming a “super Legislature” that sets education and spending policy.

Kline said legislators have more information about education spending than the court and are more aware of what it takes to provide for Kansas schools.

“We cannot get a U-Haul big enough to pull all the paper over to the courtroom that was provided to the Legislature,” Kline said.

He said he reminded the court in the state’s brief that justices don’t have the authority to raise taxes or reallocate state spending. If the funding package needs changing, he suggested that a three-judge district court panel monitor legislative progress in the coming year.

Biles asked the court to strike down provisions granting districts the authority to raise property taxes to generate an additional 27 percent of their general operating budgets and a provision granting 17 of the state’s 301 districts extra taxing authority because their housing costs exceed the state average.

“These provisions will only complicate the already difficult challenge mandated by this court to distribute funds in a manner that bears a reasonable relationship between our educational goals and the costs associated with meeting those needs,” Biles wrote.

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The case is Montoy v. State of Kansas, No. 92,032.

On the Net:

Kansas Judicial Branch: http://www.kscourts.org

Kansas Legislature: http://www.kslegislature.org

Kansas State Board of Education: http://www.ksbe.state.ks.us