Lawmakers hire same lawyer after losing school finance case

Lawmakers voted Tuesday to again hire the lawyer who guided the Legislature as it passed the school funding formula that was struck down by the Kansas Supreme Court this fall.

The Legislature must respond to the court within months, and some contend lawmakers may need to spend as much as $600 million more on schools to make the state’s school funding formula constitutional.

The attorney, Jeff King, will receive $100,000 in a new contract to assist lawmakers. The Legislative Coordinating Council, made up of legislative leaders, voted to hire him to act as the Senate’s attorney on school finance work.

Overall, the council approved $400,000 in spending to hire King, an additional attorney for the House and a school finance expert.

"He lost the case," said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka. He called the $100,000 for King a waste of money.

King, a previous Republican Senate vice president, represented the Legislature this spring as it crafted a funding formula in response to an earlier court decision. He was paid $65,000.

"He didn’t lose the case," Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, said. "The state carried the case. The A.G. was the responsible party for carrying the state – the legislative work."

King sat in committee meetings, answered lawmakers’ questions and ultimately produced a legal brief filed with the Supreme Court that argued in favor of the formula. He also participated in oral arguments over the law after the Kansas attorney general’s office named him a special assistant attorney general on the case.

A call to King, who wasn’t at the council meeting at the Statehouse, wasn’t immediately returned.

The Legislative Coordinating Council also voted to spend $100,000 on an attorney for the House. No candidate was named; the council will have to vote later to hire a specific attorney.

The council also approved $200,000 to hire an expert in school finance to produce a report to support the Legislature’s eventual response to the October court ruling. The court found the state’s current formula inadequate and said it unequally distributes money among school districts.

No expert was named by lawmakers. One will be hired later.

Democrats on the council opposed the hiring of the attorneys and the expert.

"I believe that we do need to get supplemental expert information. Why I am voting against this is going to a blank slate and starting over is the wrong play with the number of days (left)," House Minority Leader Jim Ward, D-Wichita, said.

The votes to spend a combined $400,000 on outside help came as the Legislature faces an April 30 deadline to inform the Supreme Court how it plans to respond to the court’s ruling. Lawmakers don’t convene until January, but last week the council approved the creation of an interim committee to begin work ahead of the session.

House Speaker Ron Ryckman, R-Olathe, said earlier the committee may consider a state constitutional amendment regarding school.

Under the school funding formula, Kansas is spending an additional $485 million on schools over two years starting this fall. Lawmakers also passed an income tax increase projected to generate $1.2 billion in new revenue over the same time.

Attorneys for school districts suing the state for additional funding contend up to $600 million may be needed.

The council attempted to hire King and approve funding for a House attorney and expert last week, but action was postponed over concerns from House Majority Leader Don Hineman, R-Dighton, who participated via conference call. He voted in favor of the proposals this week.

He indicated after Tuesday’s meeting that his earlier concerns had been related to the procedure for voting on the funding requests.

"It caught me off guard and I needed clarification," Hineman said.

This story was originally published November 7, 2017 at 4:16 PM with the headline "Lawmakers hire same lawyer after losing school finance case."