Judges Require Kansas to Provide Adequate School Funding
I know, we’re not in Kansas (most of us), but since I’ve written in the past about legal battles over adequate school funding, I just wanted to add this latest chapter in the larger story. On January 11, Brad Cooper of theKansas City Star reported:
A panel of state judges ruled Friday that funding of Kansas schools doesn’t pass constitutional muster, suggesting a price tag that could approach $500 million more for the state.
Three judges found that since 2009, the Legislature — in concert with Kansas Govs. Mark Parkinson and Sam Brownback — cut school spending in violation of the constitution.
In their 250-page opinion, the Shawnee County District Court judges called the education cuts “an obvious and continuing pattern of disregard of constitutional funding.”
Parents and school districts had argued the state hasn’t lived up to its promises to increase school funding under a 2005 order by the Kansas Supreme Court. The result, they argued, damaged student achievement.