The Kansas Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Legislature is not adequately funding schools despite putting more than $500 million into education over the next five years.
The court found in a 39-page opinion that the funding allocated by the Legislature this year didn’t sufficiently account for inflation. Compliance could cost up to $400 million.
The decision gave the Legislature until next April to craft a remedy, which will put education as a central issue headed into the final months of a hotly contested governor’s race. Whether the Legislature will ultimately comply with the court order could be decided by this year’s statehouse elections.
The court’s decision means that a lawsuit initially brought in 2010 will continue for at least one more year, giving the state’s new governor a chance to steer the state out of a legal battle that’s been frustrating lawmakers for years.
The ruling “provides a relatively clear path for the Legislature to reach what the court will consider constitutionally adequate school funding,” Attorney General Derek Schmidt said in a statement.
“Still, compliance with this order will require the Legislature to appropriate significantly more funding starting next year.”
Early estimates on Monday indicated it could cost the Legislature up to an extra $400 million over the next five years to comply with the court’s order.
The lawyer for the plaintiff school districts estimated the amount at between $250 million to $400 million over five years.
The court’s decision drew the ire of Senate President Susan Wagle.
“Today the unelected bureaucrats of the Kansas Supreme Court chose to continue with the endless cycle of school litigation, leading us down the road to an unavoidable tax hike,” Wagle said in a statement.
“When Kansas is on par with Nancy Pelosi’s California for sky-high property taxes and families are fleeing the state, we can thank the Kansas Supreme Court.”
Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Republican candidate for governor, called for a constitutional amendment giving school-spending decisions to the Legislature.
“The business of funding schools belongs with the representatives of the people – not seven, unelected judges,” Kobach said in a statement.
“The Kansas Supreme Court’s Gannon decision today illustrates how the Court is now micromanaging every dollar spent on education even down to calculating adjustments for inflation,” Kobach said.
Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer took a more measured approach.
“When I became governor earlier this year, I outlined my priorities for a school finance plan. Specifically, one that would keep our schools open, get more money into the classroom and improve student outcomes without raising taxes. And we got it done.”
Added Colyer, “I look forward to building upon the work we did together this year to address the remaining issues identified in the ruling.”
State Rep. Melissa Rooker, a key player on education issues at the Capitol, said she thought the education funding issue could be resolved.
With increasing revenues, Rooker said, the Legislature could fix the school-funding issue and manage the rest of its budget.
While acknowledging the “considerable” amount of funding that the state has added to education the last two years, the court still found the state is short of reaching adequate funding levels without adjusting for inflation.
Yet, the court found that issues facing the state today are less complicated than they were in 2017 when it first struck down the state’s school funding formula.
Last year, the court found that the state failed to not only adequately fund schools but also failed to distribute the money equitably between property-rich and property-poor school districts. On Monday, the court upheld the state efforts on equity.
“The situation facing the state… was substantially more complex than the one facing it with the release of today’s decision,” the court wrote in a per curiam ruling.
“Because of the legislature’s work during the 2018 session, the issues now are narrower,” the justices wrote. “We have confidence the legislature can again meet its constitutional duty.”
Alan Rupe, the attorney for the school districts that brought lawsuit, said in a statement that while the Legislature’s efforts were appreciated, it “simply falls short of the mark needed to get all of our students to proficiency.”
“We trust that the Legislature can come together and solve the issue in short order to avoid any future disruption of Kansas students’ education,” he said.
“The cuts to education were painful as they occurred and continue to be as painful today,” Rupe said. “We look forward to gaining the resources to reverse these cuts.”
The amount the court considered was substantially higher than an amount approved by the Senate. At one point, the Senate had passed an education finance plan that was about half the amount that was ultimately approved and sent to the court to consider.
The court’s ruling seems to have decided a legislative split over whether the amount sent to the court was enough. As the Legislature debated the education plan, Democrats had pushed hard for more money, predicting that the Supreme Court would demand more.
Democrats tried to add more than $800 million for schools during the session but failed.
State Rep. Brett Parker, an Overland Park Democrat, was among those who urged the Legislature to include more money for schools last session.
“This was predictable and avoidable,” Parker said of the court ruling. “We offered plans to avoid this outcome and at the end of the day we just didn’t have the votes.”
Parker said he believes the Legislature can fund the court’s demand with increased revenues that have been flowing into the state. He said the money can be added incrementally over time in a way that’s affordable.
“It’s real money, but we’re not talking $2 billion and a giant tax increase,” he said.
“We’re talking about using the tax package that was passed in 2017 for its intended purpose, which was to fund schools and reinvest in core services.”
Meanwhile, Republicans were calling for a constitutional amendment to end the litigation over school finance. Even the attorney general, thought it was time for a constitutional amendment on the issue.
“I continue to believe that Kansans should be given the chance to vote on a constitutional amendment to indicate whether this litigation-driven funding system is really how they want school-funding decisions to be made,” Schmidt said
Kansas Republican Party Chairman Kelly Arnold weighed in to support a constitutional amendment as well.
“Regardless of where one lands on the issues of funding – the endless litigation needs to stop,” Arnold posted on Twitter. “The people of Kansas should be making this decision, not black robes in ivory towers.”
