Editorial: House school plan won’t cut it

It is hard to believe that the school funding bill the Kansas House approved late last week will survive as is to become law.

The House’s school funding plan phases in a $280 million increase in funding over two years. The vote was 84-39 for approval. Still, the amount is just 30 percent of the $893 million over two years that the State Board of Education estimated was necessary to comply with a Supreme Court ruling that Kansas must implement a plan to fund public schools adequately.

The Legislature has until June 30 to advance a plan that meets the court’s approval or face a potential shutdown of the state’s schools. It seems unlikely that $280 million will do it.

The House’s special K-12 Education Budget Committee produced the bill. Originally, the committee considered a plan to phase in a $750 million increase over five years, but it chose the lower amount after legislators failed to pass tax increases that would provide the funds necessary to meet that commitment. The Legislature still has not approved a tax bill.

Opposition to the education bill came from conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats. Most of the Lawrence-area House delegation expressed reservations but voted for the bill, including Democratic Reps. Barbara Ballard and John Wilson and Republican Reps. Tom Sloan and Jim Karleskint. Democrat Boog Highberger voted against the bill.

The House bill would raise base per-pupil funding next year to $4,006, which will add $183 million in new school funding on top of the roughly $3 billion a year the state now spends from its general fund. In the 2018-2019 school year, per-pupil funding would rise again to $4,128, which would cost the state another $100 million.

The Lawrence school district would see an increase of an estimated $3.1 million next year under the House formula. Yet, Lawrence school officials said the funding would not be enough to make up for the significant cuts the district has had to make in recent years.

Provisions of the House bill are noteworthy. The plan would fully fund all-day kindergarten for schools that offer it, increase funding for preschool programs that serve low-income children and provide more money in the form of “at-risk weighting,” which is additional money districts get based on the number of students who qualify for free meals.

But ultimately, the House plan seems doomed to fall short of the court’s expectations. The Senate plans to work on its version of a school funding plan this week. Hopefully, senators will recognize that significantly more funds are needed, and then lawmakers can get serious about a tax plan to fund it and the rest of state government.