Topeka ? From the Statehouse to the schoolhouse, the Kansas Supreme Court’s unanimous order to quickly increase school funding by record amounts will have significant impact.

“The opinion was very decisive,” state Rep. Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, said.

On Friday, the court rejected the Republican school finance plan, and ordered the Legislature to double its proposed funding increase for schools from $142 million to $285 million, and base future increases on the actual costs of providing an education, not political compromise.

The tab next year could be an additional $568 million, the court said. Currently, the state spends about $2.8 billion to educate Kansas’ 450,000 students.

The court also struck proposals to increase the ability of local school districts to increase local taxes for schools, saying that would further widen the gap between rich and poor districts.

Ruling will help, schools say

Most school districts hailed the ruling, saying it would improve the quality of schools.

“Districts should be able to start restoring programs, reduce class sizes, and provide better learning opportunities for kids everywhere,” said Blake West, vice president of the Kansas National Education Assn.

And critics of the plan that the court shredded said the ruling delivered a stinging civics lesson to the large Republican legislative majorities who they said tried to put a Band-Aid on an unconstitutional funding system.

Some Republicans had argued that they faced an unachievable task because the court’s January decision failed to provide a roadmap on what was needed.

But there is no uncertainty now, said Dan Biles, attorney for the State Board of Education. “The court answered the call of some who said they wanted to know specifically what more was needed,” Biles said.

During oral arguments before the court, the state argued that the court was limited to presume the Republican plan was constitutional because only the Legislature has the authority to adopt school finance legislation.

In its opinion, the court said, however, “it has been settled that the judiciary’s sworn duty includes judicial review of legislation for constitutional infirmity. We are not at liberty to abdicate our own constitutional duty.”

GOP rebuke?

Democrats from Gov. Kathleen Sebelius on down said the court’s decision was a rebuke of Republican legislative leaders.

Some Republicans responded by saying the court had overstepped its authority, while others said they were disappointed because they believed the bill was a good first-step.

Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, turned the burden of complying with the court order to Sebelius.

“According to her statement, the governor plans to use her authority to call a special session of the Legislature; we are duty-bound to respond.

“We are certainly willing to listen to her plan. It is now up to her to exercise some leadership on an appropriate response to the court’s decision,” he said.

Sebelius stayed out of school finance discussions during the past legislative session, saying that her proposal in 2004, which was rejected by the Legislature, still stood as her position.

That plan would have increased taxes to raise $300 million for schools.

Special session on tap

Sebelius has said she would contact legislative leaders to determine when to call a special session.

Special legislative sessions are infrequent in Kansas; there have been only 19 since 1874, and they have been called for a wide variety of issues ranging from grasshopper plagues to social unrest to state and federal court orders.

The last two were called by former Gov. Mike Hayden, a Republican who is now secretary of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.

In 1989, Hayden held a two-day session to extend the deadline for the payment of property taxes, and in 1987, he called a special session in an unsuccessful attempt to enact a highway program.

State Sen. Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, who was then a member of the House, said that session on highways was a “total waste of taxpayers’ money” because legislators were waiting around with nothing to do while leadership met and tried to make a deal.

He advised Sebelius to bring in members of the education, budget and tax committees to hammer out a deal and then call the session, so that the hard work is already done when the entire Legislature returns.