After withholding the details of their funding plan for K-12 public schools until halfway through the legislative session, leaders in the Kansas House and Senate now are eager to push this plan into law within days of its introduction.

Such quick action on such a complex and important issue is a disservice to Kansas. On behalf of schoolchildren and taxpayers across the state, legislators shouldn’t let this bill slide through without a vigorous examination of its provisions and its impact on Kansas school districts.

Identical bills introduced last week in the Kansas Senate and House essentially throw out the existing school finance formula and replace it with “block grants” to each of the state’s 286 school districts. Proponents of the plan say the idea is to use the block grant system for two years while the Legislature revamps the state’s school finance system, but opponents point out that the bill includes no sunset provision so there’s no telling how long it would remain in effect.

The main goal of proponents is to reduce funding for K-12 schools to facilitate their efforts to balance the state budget in the face of revenue declines. Although the figures are a little hard to follow, cuts certainly are involved. The Kansas Department of Education says the block grant plan will result in the loss of $51 million for school districts this year and a reduction in K-12 operating funds of $127.4 million next year. By contrast, proponents of the bill, who count contributions to teachers’ retirement and some other expenses as part of the state’s school funding package claim the actual reduction for next year is only $22.5 million.

That’s a pretty big discrepancy.

In addition to funding changes, the block grant plan also throws out key provisions of the school finance formula aimed at equalizing education opportunities from wealthy districts to poorer districts. That equalization aid has been of particular interest to the courts that have ordered additional school spending in the state.

Providing for public K-12 education is one of the state’s most important responsibilities. Proponents of the block grant plan argue that the current school finance formula has been around since 1992 and deserves to be revisited. That’s probably true, but that doesn’t mean the state should throw out the formula before it has any idea how it will be replaced for the long term.

The governor and others also claim the current school finance formula is too complicated and hard to understand. That’s also probably true, but making sure K-12 schools are adequately and fairly funded throughout the state probably isn’t as simple as some legislative leaders are trying to make it.