Senate leader forms group to tackle school finance

Senate President Susan Wagle formed a committee to address funding K-12 education in the wake of the Kansas Supreme Court’s most recent school finance ruling.

“The Kansas Senate is committed to creating an equitable school funding formula prior to the end of this legislative session that Kansas students and educators can be proud of,” the Wichita Republican said in a statement Wednesday.

Wagle named Majority Leader Jim Denning, R-Overland Park, to chair the committee. Sen. Carolyn McGinn, R-Sedgwick, will be the vice chairwoman.

Including those two senators, the committee will feature seven Republicans and two Democrats. Wagle said in her statement they represent “an intelligent, diverse group of student advocates.”

“I am confident they’ll steer the Senate in the right direction as we work to create this new school finance formula,” Wagle said.

The Kansas Supreme Court ruled last week that the state’s block grant funding system was inadequate and unconstitutional. The state has until June 30 to craft a new school finance formula that meets constitutional funding requirements or potentially face statewide school closures.

Senators at an Education Committee meeting and a Republican caucus meeting Wednesday received a briefing on the ruling. Some Republicans were visibly annoyed the court would not indicate what would be a constitutional funding plan.

“We’re supposed to come up with something that we consider to be constitutional and yet the court retains jurisdiction telling us that they might decide that it’s not constitutional,” said Sen. Dennis Pyle, R-Hiawatha. “That kind of presents a quandary.”

It’s unclear when they will begin meeting to work on a new funding formula. Wagle said discussions about a school finance formula will take place after the Senate considers a budget revision bill next week.

“It’s pretty hard to put together a finance plan until you have budget stability,” she said after the caucus meeting.

Sens. Dan Kerschen, R-Garden Plain; Molly Baumgardner, R-Louisburg; Barbara Bollier, R-Mission Hills; Bud Estes, R-Dodge City; and Dan Goddard, R-Parsons, are the other Republicans on the committee.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, and Sen. Pat Pettey, D-Kansas City, are the two Democrats on the committee.

This story was originally published March 8, 2017 at 6:45 PM with the headline "Senate leader forms group to tackle school finance."