Democrats push for Brownback to call special session to avoid schools shutdown

Kansas Democrats want Gov. Sam Brownback to call a special session by Friday to prevent the closure of the state’s schools in July.

Brownback’s office says he has a plan to prevent closure. But it won’t say what that plan is.

“The Governor’s plan is to stop the Kansas Supreme Court from closing our schools,” Eileen Hawley, the governor’s spokeswoman, said in an e-mail Monday. She did not give any details.

If Kansas lawmakers do not pass a new bill in June to ensure equitable education funding, the Kansas Supreme Court could block the distribution of education dollars, triggering a shutdown of schools. The court ruled May 27 that the Legislature had failed to make funding equitable.

Republican leaders will hold a phone conference with the governor on Wednesday to discuss what to do.

A special session can be called either by the governor or if two-thirds of each chamber of the Legislature signs a petition.

Democratic leaders have begun collecting signatures to begin a special session on June 20, which would give lawmakers 10 days to resolve the issue.

“They can’t hide behind the governor,” Rep. Jim Ward, D-Wichita, said of Republicans, who hold supermajorities in the House and the Senate. “They have the power to call a special session if the governor is an obstacle.”

Kansas law requires that the signatures on the petition be notarized, a hurdle to collecting the 111 signatures necessary in such a short time frame.

Seven lawmakers had signed the petition, including one Republican, as of 4:40 p.m. Monday, according to Legislative Administrative Services. The agency, which performs clerical service for the Legislature, did not disclose the names of the signers.

Hawley dismissed the petition in an e-mail, saying it would “have no impact on the Governor’s actions to stop the Kansas Supreme Court from closing our schools.”

Legislative leaders are exploring a number of ideas and not all of them require a special session, said Peter Northcott, chief of staff for Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce, R-Hutchinson. One option is to try to block a shutdown order in federal court.

“At this point, folks are still looking at options,” Northcott said.

Special-education funding

Meanwhile, Wichita and other school districts have begun preparing for a shutdown.

The Kansas Department of Education is investigating the potential ramifications, including whether services for special-education students, which continue through the summer and are largely paid for by federal dollars, would have to halt during a shutdown.

“We don’t know for sure yet,” said Dale Dennis, the deputy commissioner of education, who oversees school finance. “The federal funds wouldn’t change. … I think the resources would be available for the first couple months of the school year. The question is would they be allowed to provide those services, and we don’t know that yet.”

‘They want their schools open’

If the Legislature returns for a special session, Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, says, Democrats will submit a bill to fully fund the state’s old equalization formula, an option the court identified as a “safe harbor” that would ensure schools would not be shut down. A return to that formula would mean $10 million more in funding for the Wichita school district.

“For more than five years, the Kansas Legislature has neglected the needs of our children and ignored our constitutional duty by underfunding our schools,” Hensley said in an e-mail to Republicans, asking them to sign the petition. “The legislature has been given not one, not two, but three opportunities to find a solution, and failed.”

Rep. Ron Ryckman, R-Olathe, the House budget chairman, sent a letter to the House Republican caucus explaining his support for a special session, saying lawmakers cannot let students become “collateral damage” from the standoff with the court.

Ryckman did not immediately comment on the Democrats’ petition.

House Speaker Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, who supported a failed effort to pass a bill last week, said in an e-mail that he finds “it entertaining that the Kansas Democrats are demanding action when they have spent the last two years sitting on their hands.”

Merrick said Republicans “will continue exploring all possible avenues to ensure schools remain open.”

Rep. Stephanie Clayton, R-Overland Park, a moderate, said she’s willing to sign a petition to force a special session, but she voiced concerns that the way the Democrats have gone about it.

“Sure, I will sign a petition, but only if signing that petition means that it will lead to a special session. My concern about signing the petition is that, accompanied with inflammatory language, that it might alienate people further and cause more gridlock,” Clayton said, referring to a letter Democratic leaders submitted to the governor’s office criticizing Brownback.

“None of my people at home care about politics. They don’t care about Republicans or Democrats. They don’t care who’s angry. They don’t care why. They want their schools open,” she said.

Constitutional amendment

Rep. Steve Huebert, R-Valley Center, said that he thinks the governor will most likely call a special session and that he’s prepared to take another run at passing a funding plan. However, he also wants to ensure that the state never faces the possible closure of schools again.

After the state resolves the issue of equitable funding, the court still has to rule on whether funding is adequate.

Some lawmakers say a 2005 law already blocks the courts from closing schools, but Huebert acknowledged that the court could theoretically reject that law as unconstitutional. He wants to pass a constitutional amendment to prevent school closures.

A constitutional amendment would require approval of two-thirds of each chamber of the Legislature to go on the November ballot.

“I say let’s put it on the ballot and let the people decide, so that next year we don’t have this same situation happen,” Huebert said.

This story was originally published June 6, 2016 at 1:15 PM with the headline "Democrats push for Brownback to call special session to avoid schools shutdown."