Schools consider new funding lawsuit / LJWorld.com

Archive for Monday, November 9, 2009

November 9, 2009

Topeka — School districts across the state are joining forces for a possible legal showdown with the Legislature over funding.

Since the recession started, legislators and Gov. Mark Parkinson have not only reneged on funding increases that were promised to schools to win the blessing of the Kansas Supreme Court, but they have cut dollars to classrooms in order to balance the state budget.

“Clearly, the Legislature is not following through on the commitments it has made,” said Mark Tallman, a lobbyist for the Kansas Association of School Boards.

And the fear among educators is that those cuts will have a negative impact on student achievement after years of progress.

“We are in about as difficult a situation as we have been in for quite a while,” said Rick Doll, superintendent of the Lawrence school district, which has seen a reduction in its budget of nearly $3.5 million. “Future cuts are going to directly impact teachers, which impacts kids,” he said.

Thirty-six school districts have joined Schools for Fair Funding, the nonprofit coalition that started the lawsuit in 1999 to increase school funding. Those districts have nearly 130,000 students, or nearly 30 percent of the public school enrollment in Kansas.

Court case

The original lawsuit alleged that the school finance system was unconstitutional because it shortchanged districts with high needs, and underfunded the entire system.

The lawsuit prompted a mammoth political fight, culminating in 2006 when the Kansas Supreme Court approved a school finance plan after lawmakers passed a $466 million, three-year funding measure.

But before the third year of the plan was funded, lawmakers, facing the worst revenue declines in several generations, started cutting back.

When 2009 started, base state aid was $4,433 per pupil, and was set to increase for this school year to as much as $4,597 per pupil under previously passed laws, which included a cost of living increase. But after four rounds of budget cuts, base state aid now stands at $4,218 per pupil. The cuts would have been deeper without the arrival of federal stimulus funds.

The State Board of Education has proposed a $280 million funding increase for public schools to make up for the cuts and comply with earlier adopted state law.

But the school finance needle is moving in the opposite direction. More cuts are expected in the next few weeks from the governor as state revenue projections continue to decline.

Even so, Parkinson is asking school districts to hold off from consideration of another lawsuit.

“With the revenues being this poor, I think any recipient of funds has to be understanding of the situation we’re in,” Parkinson said. “I’m encouraging all of our recipients of funds to be patient, to be willing to make sacrifices and to recognize the economy will turn around and revenues will improve and things will get better and suing each other in the meantime is probably not productive.”

Commitment questioned

John Robb, an attorney who represents Schools for Fair Funding, says the argument that no money is available is misleading. Lawmakers knew they would need to raise revenue to meet the court-ordered school funding needs, yet continued to cut taxes, Robb argues.

“Between (fiscal years) 1995 and 2010 the Legislature has cut taxes to the tune of $1.1 billion per year from the revenue stream. Had these dozens of taxes not been cut, the state would have had in excess of $6 billion in reserves to help weather this storm,” Robb said.

Tallman said school boards are extremely nervous about the financial situation, and some feel litigation is needed to get the Legislature back on track.

“School boards are pretty conservative most of the time. They are not getting into this because they want to, but they feel it is the only way to get the Legislature to refocus on commitments,” he said.

Doll said he hasn’t discussed Schools for Fair Funding with the school board yet, and doesn’t know whether the question of whether to join the possible litigation will ever come up. Schools for Fair Funding has not voted to sue the state at this point, but is exploring the issue and may take action later, Robb said.

Because of the state’s economic problems, Tallman said, this may not be a good time to take the Legislature to court over money.

“What our message has been to our members is that anything in the area of litigation is likely to be a long process. Whatever you think of the merits of the case, it is probably not going to do much for you in the short term,” he said.

Discussion

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9 November 2009
at 5:17 a.m.

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Made_in_China (Paul R. Getto) says…

The time-line in a lawsuit, even if schools win another case, is not encouraging. By the time it would work its way through the system, many schools and tens of thousands of children would suffer. Raise taxes and/or eliminate some tax exemptions immediately, then get on with the lawsuit if necessary.
9 November 2009
at 6:05 a.m.

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ComradeRedRooster (Anonymous) says…

When districts have exhausted ALL their budget cutting options then this is a last resort. Schools can cut the following: Sports/Music/Crafts/Shop/Art/Drama/
cut all extra curricular activities, cut all non-essential classes.

If the districts bring a lawsuit against the state again, the state legislature should force consolidation across the state. We have way too many school districts.
9 November 2009
at 6:19 a.m.

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commuter (Anonymous) says…

What the governor should do is get one representative from every group that wants money from the state budget into one big room. He should put a super. & a challencellor on one side of the room and the rest of the people on the other. He should tell everyone that these two people represent two groups that take up over 65% of the state budget and they want more and more. he should leave the room for 1 hour and let them work it out themselves.

To me, the educators are like spoiled rotten little brats. they keep on wanting more and more. Maybe they should disclose how much they spend on sports, salaries by person, etc. The KASB is no better than the lobbysist for insurance groups.
9 November 2009
at 6:29 a.m.

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commuter (Anonymous) says…

Since the school districts are complaining aboput funding. maybe the legislature should repeal their tax exempt status for personals and real property. Then the school districts could remit money back to state and the state can increase the amount of aid to the school districts. To me thi ssolves the issue about funding. the districts will be no better off but it will make thyem realize the issue isn't the funding but how they spend the money.

If the courts are going to legislate from the bench again they should also have to provide some ways to help fund the increase costs. Here are my suggestions. Cut the judicial budget by 20%- make them have to raise their court fees to fund themselves. Force school district consolidation and require a freeze on salaries over 80K ( or some number).

Require all school districts to report their top ten salaries by person, how much is spent on sports by sport, arts etc, report all of fthe fees and how the money is spent for those fees (require if you charge a textbook fee that it can only be used to buy textbooks etc.), As a CPAI have read the USD$(& budget and audit and can not find this information in it. To me their budget and audit is the biggest waste of paper because it really doe not tell what is going on in USD497.
9 November 2009
at 6:40 a.m.

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boothillbilly (Anonymous) says…

Tax religion and vice, and use the taxes to help the schools.
9 November 2009
at 9:08 a.m.

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nickhawk (Anonymous) says…

I've taught in public school for over 25 years, and though I agree that schools must be funded, I also have to feel that we as educators need to be cognizant of the fact that the economy is a mess and make any cuts possible that do not impact our students before asking for more. I truly appreciate the financial support Kansans make for their schools and hope we, in turn, continue to work hard for their students.
9 November 2009
at 9:23 a.m.

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Fixed_Asset (Anonymous) says…

boothillbilly - you've got it right!

9 November 2009
at 9:38 a.m.

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toe (Anonymous) says…

Time to change the constitution. Lawmakers take heed. The public will support a change.
9 November 2009
at 10:01 a.m.

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SettingTheRecordStraight (Anonymous) says…

More lawsuits. More money. It's the same old tired line.

The good news is that many Americans are becoming increasingly outraged by government over-spending and continuous calls for higher taxes to pay for government programs that we simply can't afford.
9 November 2009
at 11:04 a.m.

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avoice (Anonymous) says…

I would agree that district consolidation should be the logical result of any hardcore push (such as a lawsuit) to obtain adequate funding of schools in the present economy. There is no more money, in fact the State coffers continue to shrink, so the obvious way to settle the dispute is to consolidate school districts.
9 November 2009
at 11:18 a.m.

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Elrond (Anonymous) says…

“But the children, oh god the children”….insert taxpayer blank check here.
9 November 2009
at 11:57 a.m.

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BABBOY (Anonymous) says…

Hillbilly:

I would not tax religion but agree that taxing vice and legalizing a few vices to tax might be a good idea.

Settingtherecordstraight:

Are you saying that Education is a government program that we cannot afford and should not be funded?

I think you rarely set the record straight and again are just attempting to confuse that issue.

I think more accurately in terms of the record that all you really are doing is showing your true colors which is simply your unwillingness to pay taxes even when they are needed to do what we must to succeed as world power (which includes having the smartest kids on the planet).

In my book, anyone that does not want to pay his fair share of taxes for the war effort, for social programs, for our streets, for our schools really just needs to shut the hell up and not complain because they are part of the problem and not part of the solution. You put your pocketbook before our country, Kansas and our kids. I am not saying we need a 50 percent tax, but we need to start investing in our kids or the only thing we have that will keeps us a world power will be our Military (which costs money too by the way). Thus, you need to do your fair share and stop whinning!!!!

By the way, with Education, The money you spend NOW to educate is money you save in Welfare, health care, jail incarceration, vandalism, crime, and all the other social programs.

I am guessing however that Settingtherecordstraight does not care about any of these issues and is too busy burying cans of money (probably with 20 dollars in coins in them) in his backyard.
9 November 2009
at 12:20 p.m.

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Jimo (Anonymous) says…

“Time to change the constitution. Lawmakers take heed. The public will support a change.”

Cool heads back in 2006 advised the GOP legislature not to fight this over money but rather over educational reform. But reform is complicated, harder, and might not allow for less funding in the end anyway, so our redneck legislators stuck with the simplistic approach: we don't want to spend more and you can't make us. Obviously, that was a monumental failure.

Now, the state is stuck. Per its constitution, the state must provide funding for an adequate education first and foremost. And the legislature has done no work in revising what an adequate education would be. So, in the end, adequate equals money. Pony up, Kansans!
9 November 2009
at 12:35 p.m.

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merrill (Anonymous) says…

So long as Kansas remains in the news as a state that does not support public education across the board any new economic growth is history.

It is NOT just this period that Kansas public education has to fight and/or go to court to receive the funding necessary to educate Kansas it is year after year after year after year after year.

It's the policy of our legislature to NOT provide necessary funding… which takes its' direction from the Kansas Chamber of Commerce NOT.

Unfortunately our local powers that be and editorial writers support NOT funding the state public education system. Then these thinkers sponsor public meetings to discover why local economic growth has stagnated.
I say it is because of stagnate policies supported by the state and local powers that be.

It has been my experience over the years that says excellent public education systems are at the top of lists when deciding upon where to locate a business.

If tax cuts and depleting state cookie jars were key to new green industries,any up and coming industry and job growth Kansas would have wayyyyyyyyyy more jobs than job seekers could fill.
That is NOT the case which indicates that philosophy has big holes in it.
9 November 2009
at 1:16 p.m.

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SettingTheRecordStraight (Anonymous) says…

Tell you what, Babyboy. Can we agree that government is big enough already, that it provides enough “essential services” already and that it doesn't need to get one iota larger?

I'd be willing to maintain our current, outrageously high tax rates if we could guarantee that they'd never go up again. Unfortunately, government never stops growing, it never stops consuming, it never stops taking. There will always be lawsuits demanding more money, and there will always be politicians promising more entitlements. It's all very sad.

9 November 2009
at 5:39 p.m.

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ComradeRedRooster (Anonymous) says…

boothillbilly (Anonymous) says…

Tax religion and vice, and use the taxes to help the schools.

Tax organic food and alternative medicine.
9 November 2009
at 6:04 p.m.

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boothillbilly (Anonymous) says…

ComradeRedRooster: Let's do both!
9 November 2009
at 6:51 p.m.

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MyName (Anonymous) says…

This BS about government being to big or taxes being to high is getting a little tired. Kansas is not the victim of an oversized government (like California, for example).

The problem is that the economy has tanked. There isn't a single area of government in this state that isn't cutting it's budget. But the revenue coming in has shrunk dramatically. You can't plan for this sort of thing anymore than the millions of people who lost their house or job in this recession could have planned for it.

You can build up reserves that exist for situations like this, but the State had instead chosen in the past to let citizens keep their money by either cutting taxes directly, or indirectly through exemptions. I'm not even sure if we need to directly increase taxes if we could close some of the loopholes businesses are using instead.

The only good thing about this being a revenue side problem is that, once the economy turns around, we can always lower taxes or reopen the loopholes, but letting bridges break down or having kids go home because we can't teach them isn't a very good alternative.
9 November 2009
at 7:55 p.m.

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kansasfaithful (Anonymous) says…

The funding for education makes up 60% of the entire tax stream. If we give more to schools what about everybody else. Every other agency receiving public assistance is getting far less. The school money pit needs to stop. But for schools to expect more when we all are doing with much less the public school system is a scam. Just check out the new football stadiums at both high schools. 5 million dollars of school money. Teachers who expect a raise simply need to check out the stadiums and do a little soul searching.