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“Apparently Wagle doesn’t understand the court’s role in a democracy and its responsibility to uphold the Kansas Constitution. Also, the Legislature’s own attempts in recent years to limit lawsuits and restrict the court’s authority are recognition of the court’s role in school funding. It’s also noteworthy that Wagle didn’t argue that the state is meeting its constitutional requirement to suitably finance K-12 education. The state’s attorneys also focused mostly on technical issues about legal standing and not adequate funding during last month’s Supreme Court hearing. ‘In doing so, they’re clearly admitting that if they lose, there’s no evidence...

“Kansans might think that state lawmakers tasked with understanding and deciding how to evaluate and reform the state’s school finance formula would be interested in hearing from educators, school administrators and the state agency or board directly charged with education oversight. They’d be wrong, however.”http://www.hutchnews.com/Editorialblogs/edit–school-finance-meeting...

Some interim education members agreed with presentations by paid staff of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice and Kansas Policy Institute on a “staffing surge” but others recognized that “many other professions were included in this nonteaching category, such as special education instructors, reading specialists, school psychologists, audiologists, and speech pathologists,” that some of that hiring is mandated by federal and state law and that many smaller districts are losing students but still need a superintendent (who also performs many other jobs). We also note that hiring aides is sometimes a response to funding pressure, as it is...