The lower court panel held a hearing in the Gannon school funding case on May 7th.
“‘For the most part they were well educated people,’ says historian Virgil Dean who worked at the Kansas State Historical Society. ‘They came here with the idea that they’re either going to recreate something similar to what they left behind or make something better, and education is just an accepted idea that that’s one of the things that you need.’
“Public education, Dean says, was in the founding Wyandotte constitution written in 1859 in what is now Kansas City, Kansas.
“While the question of whether Kansas would be a slave state was largely settled by 1859, the Wyandotte convention, Dean says, still dealt with weighty issues like suffrage for women and blacks and even how far west the state should stretch.
“But there was still time for schools.
“‘So there’s that commitment to a good education for all the children of Kansas I think is reflected in that attention that they give to a structure that will not only give some uniformity to the schools and guarantee some quality education but ensure some equality in funding,’ he says.
“Quality education and equality in funding — sound familiar?
“So when Kansas is admitted to the union in 1861 we have article six of the constitution. It not only requires public schools be established, but sets aside state land to be sold or rented to pay for them.
“Then, in 1966, the state amended the constitution and strengthened article six.
“The state constitution now says the ‘legislature shall make suitable provision for finance of the educational interests of the state.’
“Language that is at the heart of Thursday’s hearing.
“Jeffery Jackson is a law professor at Washburn University, he worked at the Kansas Supreme Court and just recently gave a talk on the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta. He knows something about founding documents.
“Jackson says the Kansas constitution is clear, lawmakers shall suitably fund education.
“‘Who holds them to that duty? In fact, up to the courts to hold them to that duty. Which is how we end up with the court involvement,’ he says.
Read more here: http://kcur.org/post/showdown-kansas-courtroom-over-school-funding