Will lawmakers listen to school districts?

When GOP state lawmakers announced their block grant proposal last week, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Ron Ryckman Jr., R-Olathe, declared: “Traditionally, we have not listened to our school districts. That has stopped.”

If that’s true, lawmakers will heed the school district officials who testified Monday against the proposal. But don’t hold your breath.

The block grant proposal would merge several types of state school funding. The idea is that school districts would be able to direct the funding where it is most needed, whether that’s hiring another teacher or making a capital purchase.

Though additional flexibility could be helpful, a long line of school officials spoke against the bill at a House Appropriations Committee hearing Monday. These included school district superintendents and administrators and representatives of the Kansas Association of School Boards and the teachers union.

One concern of the school officials is that the proposal would reduce current-year funding by about $51 million. What’s more, it would increase the inequity in school funding – contrary to a court order last year.

About 90 percent of the state’s wealthiest districts would gain state aid for operational expenses under the plan, while about 80 percent of the poorest districts would lose aid, $170,000 on average, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. The Wichita school district would lose $7.8 million from what it was expecting this fiscal year.

Though the block grant funding would increase the next two fiscal years, nearly all that increase would be for pensions, including retired teachers. What’s left would not be enough to pay for increased costs, school officials said.

Another major concern is that funding would not increase based on increased enrollment or changing demographics, such as more lower-income students.

GOP lawmakers and Gov. Sam Brownback touted the block grant as a temporary transition while the Legislature spends the next two years creating a new school finance system. But school officials noted that there is no sunset provision in the bill. They also pointed out the difficulty of planning for the future, not knowing what the new formula might be – or if there will even be one.

The only groups that testified in favor of the bill were the Kansas Chamber of Commerce; the Kansas Policy Institute, a free-market think tank; and the tea party group Kansans for Liberty.

Will lawmakers listen to the school districts, as Ryckman promised, or will they do the bidding of special interests?

For the editorial board, Phillip Brownlee

This story was originally published March 9, 2015 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Will lawmakers listen to school districts?."