Kansas parents drop federal suit over school district fundraising

Shawnee Mission parents and students challenging a state limit on school district fundraising and spending have dismissed their 6-year-old federal lawsuit, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said.

Petrella v. Brownback, filed in 2010 by a group in the Shawnee Mission school district, argued that a state-imposed cap on the amount of local property tax a district can spend on education violated the parents and students’ federal constitutional rights.

Lawmakers created the cap to address economic disparities among school districts. But Shawnee Mission parents wanted to pay more for their schools.

The dismissal comes after two appeals to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver and the U.S. Supreme Court refusal to hear the case, Schmidt said.

The lawsuit is different than Gannon v. Kansas, which also challenges school funding.

This story was originally published August 10, 2016 at 10:51 AM with the headline "Kansas parents drop federal suit over school district fundraising."