To the editor:

In my recent letter to the editor, I pointed out that for the Kansas Supreme Court order to increase spending clearly violates the Kansas Constitution. The elected Legislature, not the appointed courts, has the right to appropriate funds. Not being able to refute this basic fact may explain why others replied with personal attacks on me.

Why did I call this a Sebelius Court? Because clearly it is promoting her tax-and-spend policies and she has all but ratified the decision.

Will this opinion close rural schools? It looks like that is where they are headed. As part of their justification for finding HR2247 unconstitutional, the court criticized low-enrollment weighting. Low-enrollment weighting is a recognition that the costs associated with education in rural areas are higher on a per capita basis that the costs in more heavily populated areas. Without that funding, rural schools, some of our best, are in jeopardy.

Will the court limit parents from increasing their investment in their own schools? Yes. The local option budget enhancement passed by the Legislature would allow local boards to raise LOB spending over the next three years from the current 25 percent of their state funding to 30 percent. The court stayed the LOB enhancement provisions.

This is a constitutional crisis. The legislature must not abandon its power of the purse to an unelected judiciary.

Republicans are offering solutions, including additional funding without raising taxes and providing tax relief to property owners, to keep our schools open.

Rich Lorenzo,

Lawrence