Litigation costs on school funding suit reach $2.8M

? The cost of litigation over the constitutionality of the system Kansas uses to pay for public education has surpassed $2.8 million, with the various school districts that have been plaintiffs in the case accounting for nearly two-thirds of the total.

The case dating to 1999 is awaiting a decision from the Kansas Supreme Court. In January, the court ordered the Legislature to boost school funding, and it is now reviewing the $142 million plan lawmakers passed in response.

According to statistics compiled by the Kansas Legislative Research Department, the litigation costs for the school districts total $2,095,020, while the state has spent $780,990 defending against the suit.

The suit was filed initially by the Salina and Dodge City school districts, contending Kansas needed to do a better and more equitable job of providing funding for its 301 school districts.

Thirteen other school districts later joined as plaintiffs, with two subsequently dropping out – Fort Scott after the 2001-2002 school year and Arkansas City this year.

The research department figures show the following legal costs for the participating school districts:

Fort Scott, $33,403; Emporia, $206,125; Derby, $258,550; Salina, $296,373; Newton, $138,212; Manhattan, $107,139; Augusta, $85,800; Great Bend, $124,626; Dodge City, $210,562; Independence, $92,781; Leavenworth, $165,557; Winfield, $103,514; Arkansas City, $79,848; Hays, $124,047; El Dorado, $68,483.

Karl Peterjohn, executive director of the Kansas Taxpayers Network, considers the lawsuit expense “an affront to the idea of freedom.”

“For taxpayers to be forced to fund a lawsuit to raise taxes is an affront to most people in the state,” Peterjohn said.

Fred Kaufman, the Hays school superintendent and leader of the Schools for Fair Funding coalition, said that roughly 75 percent of the school district’ costs went directly for attorney fees.

“When you try and try and you get nowhere, then you have no alternative but to use taxpayer dollars,” Kaufman said. “And look what the Supreme Court said – we are right. And if we hadn’t done it, we wouldn’t get anywhere.”

Defendants in the lawsuit are the Kansas State Board of Education, which has its own attorney, and the state, represented by the attorney general’s office which has contracted with an outside law firm.

“You’re going to have to defend yourself. It’s the cost of doing business,” said Sue Gamble, a board of education member from Shawnee.

Peterjohn calls the lawsuit “a legal lottery” in which “the only guaranteed loser will be the taxpayer.”