School funding plan timely, lacking
The GOP-led Legislature gets points for urgency in passing a school funding bill before adjourning its regular session Thursday – and for setting aside its baseless animosity for the Kansas Supreme Court long enough to respond at all.
Assuming Gov. Sam Brownback signs the bill, Kansans soon will know whether it fixes what the court ruled to be unconstitutionally inequitable funding among districts, and relieves the threat of a court-ordered shutdown of schools July 1.
That seems unlikely, as the plan merely reshuffles and renames existing funding.
The bill adds just $2 million statewide for the next fiscal year, compared with estimates that fully funding the old equalization formula would take $38 million. Labeling money as “hold harmless” aid doesn’t make it so, especially with districts looking at slashing budgets or raising local property taxes to cope with past legislative actions.
The Wichita school district, which is considering up to $30 million in budget cuts for next school year, would get no extra state funding per this plan. An earlier House proposal would have provided the district about $10 million in additional funding and tax relief.
The bill also deserved more time for lawmakers’ and stakeholders’ scrutiny than it received. That was just 48 hours from introduction to passage, though the court had issued its ruling six weeks earlier. House members could only vote up or down, with no ability to offer amendments on the floor. Big issues like school finance deserve better lawmaking than that.
Meanwhile, the much bigger part of the schools lawsuit involving adequacy of funding is pending, and the Legislature has put off crafting a school finance formula to replace the one repealed last year.
At least lawmakers recognized the need to make an effort to answer the court on its equity ruling – and in March. But expect them to have to tackle the issue again in May or later.
This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 7:08 PM with the headline "School funding plan timely, lacking."