Democratic leader warns Legislature not to wait on school funding

The top Democrat in the Kansas Senate says lawmakers should not wait to craft a new school finance formula.

The Republican-controlled Legislature eliminated the state’s school finance formula this past session, replacing it for the next two years with block grants until the Legislature comes up with a new formula.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, proposed Thursday creating a bipartisan committee to study school finance and make recommendations before lawmakers reconvene next January.

“Once the block grants run their course we have nothing to back it up with,” Hensley said at a meeting of the Legislative Coordinating Council, which has the power to set up commissions and study committees.

Hensley warned that it would be difficult to craft a plan during an election year and worried that the Legislature would not have a plan in place to fund schools before the block grants stop in 2017.

Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, said she wants to wait for the state’s Supreme Court to take action on a pending school finance lawsuit before setting up such a committee, saying that lawmakers need guidance from the court before moving forward with a new formula.

Hensley agreed to table the issue until the council meets again in August. If the council moves forward with a version of Hensley’s current proposal, a study committee would consider issues of poverty and wealth, school district size and special education before recommending a new funding formula.

This story was originally published July 16, 2015 at 6:54 PM with the headline "Democratic leader warns Legislature not to wait on school funding."