The House Appropriations hearing on the block grant bill was held earlier today. There were only 3 proponents (all with a free-market, low-tax ideology that appears to trump all other concerns): the Kansas Policy Institute, the Kansas Chamber of Commerce (which should not be confused with local area chambers) and Kansans for Liberty. KASB, Kansas PTA, Game On and multiple districts are among those opposing the bill.

Here’s part of our testimony:
We oppose House Bill 2403 on multiple grounds. This bill does not help Kansas schools meet the needs of Kansas students better than the current formula. It fails to account for rising costs over which districts have no control. It fails to account for changes in numbers of students or changes in demographics within districts. Under such circumstances, “steady” funding is a functional cut. The “extraordinary need” clause will not be sufficient to meet the needs of all the districts (and therefore, students) that will need it.

We question how this bill, which appears to achieve much of its savings through cuts in equalization aid, will be deemed to meet the requirements of the Gannon equity decision issued last year. We note that many legislators in the House took credit for that increase when campaigning last year, but now appear to be backing away from it. Also, supporters of this bill have said it increases flexibility for districts in how they choose to allocate resources. However, increasing flexibility without providing sufficient resources merely grants districts the responsibility for choosing among bad options.

We are deeply concerned that this bill repeals the current formula and contains no sunset provision for the block grant proposal. The current funding formula has been deemed sufficient by the Kansas courts; the level of funding has been the issue. This bill does not tweak the current formula, but abandons it without offering a suitable replacement.