TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A new Kansas law that increases spending on its public schools still falls up to $1.5 billion short of providing adequate funding under the state constitution, attorneys for four local school districts argued Monday in a filing with the states highest court.
Attorneys Alan Rupe and John Robb asked the Kansas Supreme Court to declare the school funding system void effectively shutting down schools statewide unless the Republican-controlled Legislature approves another, even larger spending increase by the end of June.
The new law phases in a $548 million increase in education funding over five years, an amount Attorney General Derek Schmidt described as massive in his own filing with the high court. Schmidt, also a Republican, argued that the law complies with a Supreme Court mandate to boost spending on public schools.