Past suggests hope for Kansas school finance

Look back to see the future of school finance in Kansas.

In its unanimous decision of March 2, the Kansas Supreme Court determined the “block grant” scheme for funding schools did not meet the constitutional standard of adequacy and ordered the Legislature back to the drawing board to write a school finance law that meets constitutional muster no later than June 30.

Four fundamental revisions of school finance over the past 50 years, coupled with recent missteps in state finance, foretell what to expect from state lawmakers over the next couple months.

Overall school funding will substantially increase. While the court emphasized that “total spending is not the touchstone for adequacy in education,” its order admonished lawmakers that “the state should not ignore” experts’ cost estimates that point to a sizable boost in base funding for schools.

School funding will rely more upon state sales and income taxes and less on property taxes. The disastrous tax experiment of 2012 followed by jumps in sales and property taxes have narrowed options for lawmakers.

As a result, income taxes now stand as the only realistic choice for funding schools and rebalancing state finance.

The formula for distributing state funds to individual school districts will return to base funding plus district weightings. Lawmakers represent school districts that vary widely in geography, wealth and student characteristics, among other factors, and they must come to agreement in apportioning funds through a political process.

The formula crafted in 1992 included district weightings, such as numbers of at-risk students and students’ distance from schools, to allocate funds among districts and worked effectively for nearly 20 years. While this formula provides a point of departure, the court did highlight that revisions must address those students, particularly minorities and at-risk students, who are not performing at grade levels.

Action on school finance will be bipartisan. Every school finance revision has enjoyed bipartisan legislative support. While Republicans control roughly two-thirds of all legislative seats, roughly half of them question the value of public schools. That reality, plus a disengaged governor, assures that school finance reform can only be enacted through a bipartisan legislative coalition.

A billion-dollar hole in state finance complicates the work of state lawmakers. As a result, school finance must go hand in hand with a revenue package that funds it.

Early votes last month on taxes provide encouragement that legislative majorities are in place to address these challenges – possibly even before late June.

This story was originally published March 25, 2017 at 5:06 AM with the headline "Past suggests hope for Kansas school finance."