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The current House Appropriations bill that seeks to provide the equity required by the Gannon decision proposes cutting $14 million in transportation aid. “[That proposal] is based on a 2006 Legislative Post Audit study that found school bus costs were overstated because of a flawed reimbursement formula. ‘The transportation formula systematically overestimates the cost of transporting students who live more than 2.5 miles from school,’ Legislative Post Audit wrote this week in a summary of that study. . . But Seaman USD 345 communications director Jeff Zehnder questioned the proposed cut, saying the transportation study was just one section...

“In fact, for many school districts including Lawrence, the bill as a whole would result in a net loss of state funding because the additional money in so-called “equalization aid” would not result in any new spending authority, but instead would replace money currently being raised through local property taxes.” http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2014/mar/25/school-finance-bill-cuts-transportation-aid/ Leadership cannot contemplate restoring equity funding for schools without taking other funding away. Our schools are still feeling the impact of recession-era cuts, but we’re supposed to accept further cuts. That’s part of why we’re walking to Topeka....

“Rhoades said he would welcome Democratic votes on the school finance bill, but the minority party’s current position of all new funding with no strings attached would be a non-starter for the Republican House majority. Rhoades said getting the majority to agree to even $70-90 million in new annual funding is ‘going to be really hard’ and so the amount of new money allocated versus the amount shifted from other sources to get to $129 million remains in flux. ‘There’s all kinds of things on the table about how do we minimize the new money, but how do we...