Perfectly said in Texas, applies equally to Kansas. “Constitutionally adequate” isn’t good enough, and unconstitutional really isn’t good enough.
“The state’s lawyers downplayed the importance of money to a first-class education in their presentation to the state justices. ‘Money isn’t pixie dust,’ Craft said. ‘Funding is no guarantee of better student outcomes.’
“This disbelief in the necessity of money in creating a first-class education system is a common argument. Especially from those who propose funneling money away from public schools and into school vouchers for use at pricey private schools. Or who readily sprinkle the same ‘pixie dust’ over crony corporations in the name of economic development…
“The state’s lawyers threw in a new twist in their argument in defense of the state. Reduced to simple terms, they proposed that if the Texas Legislature says the funding system is OK, then it’s OK and the state’s courts be damned…
“The irony is that the state is arguing against its own future, which depends on being sure that the more than 5 million students have the best education available…Without that education, those students will go on to earn lower wages, which will drag down the Texas economy.
“Educating such Texas children isn’t just a moral thing to do, it’s absolutely crucial if Texas is to continue as a wealthy state.”