TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) A majority of the Kansas Supreme Court expressed skepticism Tuesday that the Legislature and governor raised public school funding enough in the short-term to comply with the state constitution, suggesting they could be wrestling this summer with providing more money and possibly increasing taxes.
The court is reviewing a law passed this spring by the Republican-led Legislature and signed by GOP Gov. Jeff Colyer that will phase in a $548 million education funding increase over five years. Its the second funding boost in two years, but four school districts suing the state argue that it still falls as much as $1.5 billion short of being adequate.
The court heard arguments from attorneys, and within minutes of starting, Justice Dan Biles said Kansas would wait until five years from now to fund what would be adequate this year. Justice Lee Johnson later echoed that sentiment.
Justices Eric Rosen and Marla Luckert suggested that legislators settled on what they wanted to spend on schools rather than what they needed to spend to fulfill their duty under the state constitution.
Theres a lot of frustration here, Rosen said from the bench. If this isnt a kind of a deja vu, we have all been here before moment, I dont know what is.
Kansas has been in and out of lawsuits over education funding for several decades. The arguments Tuesday were in a lawsuit filed by four school districts in 2010, when this years high school graduates were fifth-graders. The state Supreme Court has issued a series of rulings, pushing lawmakers to boost funding, declaring in October that the states current funding of more than $4 billion a year is not adequate.
Toby Crouse, the states solicitor general, asked the court to declare that the Legislature complied with the courts October order to boost overall spending on public schools.
It is a fulsome funding system that is going into place, Crouse told the court. This is a significant input of additional money.
Colyer and legislators have worried that if the court isnt satisfied, it will declare that the state cannot distribute its education dollars through an unconstitutional funding formula, which effectively would keep schools closed until legislators approve a fix.
