Supreme Court orders Legislature to increase school funding

Governor to call special session

Governor Kathleen Sebelius released this statement late this afternoon:

“Today, the Legislature’s inability to fulfill its obligation to Kansas students has finally come home to roost. Still, I am relieved that the Legislature, after six years of wrangling, has been given another opportunity to find a real solution for funding our schools. We need to act in the best interests of Kansas children and their parents, above all else, and we cannot afford more legislative irresponsibility.

“Clearly a special session is required. I will thoroughly review the Court’s ruling, will call legislative leaders this weekend and meet with them as soon as possible to move forward in the most responsible way.”

TOPEKA ? The Kansas Supreme Court today ordered the Legislature to double the amount of new dollars the state spends on public schools by July 1, a decision that will force legislators into a special session.

The ruling means legislators will have to provide an additional $143 million on top of the $142 million they provided earlier this year. The total in new dollars would be $285 million – a 10 percent increase.

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It was a stunning setback for Republican legislative leaders. They had not expected the court to tell them exactly how much money to spend or to force a special session. In addition, the court based its figures on a 2001 study that GOP leaders had rejected as faulty.

In its unsigned, unanimous opinion, the court also said if legislators do not conduct another study of educational costs, it could require them to phase in another $568 million in increases in annual spending.

“It is clear that the Legislature did not consider what it costs to provide a constitutionally adequate education, nor the inequities created or worsened by HB 2247,” the court said, referring to the school finance legislation.

Because the court ordered the Legislature to come up with the money in time for the next school year, legislators will have to return to the Statehouse even though this year’s session has ended. The last special session was in 1989.

The earlier school funding plan was the Republican-controlled Legislature’s attempt to comply with a previous directive from the court to improve education funding.

School districts also received greater authority to increase local property taxes to supplement spending, but the court struck down those provisions, which critics said would help wealthy districts far more than poor ones.