When our governor and some of our legislators say that the allotment or other bills to reduce school funding are merely a “decrease to the increase” they are failing to mention that a large part of the increase was to comply with a court order after it was determined equalization funding levels were unconstitutionally low. The plaintiffs have filed a motion to revive the equity portion of the Gannon case.
“Last year, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled on the first claim, ordering the state to restore full payments of equalization aid that go to districts with lower per-pupil local tax revenue. The Legislature complied with a bill that restored those funds, though the bill was contentious because it trimmed funding elsewhere in school budgets and included a number of controversial changes to education policy, including stripping teacher tenure out of state law.
“The alliance of school districts argues that the Legislature, which is planning cuts in state spending to handle a massive shortfall in tax revenue, is now reneging on restoring the equalization payments.
“’In response to the Kansas Supreme Court’s March decision, the Kansas Legislature adopted the State’s Senate Substitute for House Bill 2506 (“H.B. 2506”), purportedly restoring approximately $129 million in funding to Kansas schools,’ the alliance says. ‘Now, the State has revealed it is approximately $63 million short of fully funding equalization aid for FY15.’
“’As seems to happen all too frequently in school finance litigation, the Legislature once again adopted legislation that would allow it to meet its constitutional obligations, but then chose to fund that legislation at unconstitutional levels,’ it says.”