Attorney blasts legislators over school finance

Plaintiffs' lawyer asks court to pick up slack

? An attorney who sued the state over school funding said Thursday the Kansas Supreme Court must do what the Legislature was unwilling to do and increase spending enough to provide all students a suitable education.

Alan Rupe, of Wichita, representing parents and administrators in the Dodge City and Salina districts, filed written arguments with the court before a hearing scheduled for May 11. Justices have scheduled 2 1/2 hours of arguments to hear the validity of the Legislature’s proposal to add $142 million to the state’s school funding package.

Rupe said legislators disregarded the court’s earlier admonishment to base funding increases on actual costs of meeting state education goals, not on politics.

He cited the lack of a steady revenue source to sustain the proposed funding increases beyond next school year and provisions that allow some districts to raise additional local property taxes to fund education.

“This court must now do what the Legislature was unwilling to do: Ensure that no child in Kansas will ever again be deprived the opportunity to participate in a suitably funded public education,” Rupe wrote.

Attorneys for the state and the State Board of Education filed their written arguments with the court on April 25. Briefs were also due Thursday from various education organizations, school districts and Democrat legislators who voted against the funding package.

Attorneys for the state argue that the new funding formula will guarantee minimum increases tied to inflation beginning in 2007. And they said an audit ordered for later this year will give hard evidence to legislators on the costs of providing a suitable education and where districts are spending their money now.

The school districts filed their lawsuit in 1999, claiming the state’s formula for distributing $2.7 billion was unconstitutional because of the way funds were spent on programs for poor and minority students.

They prevailed in district court. The Supreme Court heard the state’s appeal and issued a ruling in January ordering legislators to provide additional money and distribute it more fairly. The proposed plan before the Supreme Court was their response.

Rupe also repeated earlier arguments that additional fact-finding to determine the costs of funding schools wasn’t necessary, adding that two studies have been conducted in recent years and both were largely ignored by legislators.

He wrote Thursday that the court should and had the authority to order the Legislature to increase funding by more than $1 billion, while continuing to monitor the case to ensure that the remedy is implemented.