TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Top Republicans were forced Friday to rewrite an education funding plan in hopes of pushing it through the Kansas Legislature, satisfying a court mandate and ending a looming threat that public schools across the state may shut down.
The GOP-dominated Legislature was in the second day of a special session forced by a state Supreme Court ruling on education funding last month. Lawmakers were struggling with how to pay for a $38 million increase in aid to poor school districts for 2016-17.
Kansas is embroiled in a lawsuit filed by four school districts, and legislators were fashioning a one-year funding fix ahead of a potentially more contentious legal and political battle over schools next year. The immediate issue was complying with the Supreme Court’s mandate to make the distribution of state aid fairer to poor school districts.
With Kansas facing an ongoing budget crunch, lawmakers were trying to avoid an overall increase in state spending by diverting money from other corners of state government to schools. The new plan from top Republicans relies less on reshuffling of existing education funds than a previous GOP plan, and a superintendent whose district is suing the state immediately endorsed it.
The House Appropriations Committee approved the new plan, and the full House expected to debate it late Friday. If House members approved it, the Senate hoped to take it up immediately.
“I hope we’re done with the wrangling,” said House Education Committee Chairman Ron Highland, a Wamego Republican.
GOP leaders’ first plan cleared committees in both chambers Thursday. But dissention among Republicans forced House Speaker Ray Merrick to send the plan back to committee.
The sense of urgency came from the Supreme Court’s warning in its recent ruling that schools might not be able to reopen after June 30 if lawmakers didn’t make further changes. Many have summer programs, continue to serve meals to poor children and provide services year-round to special education students.
The state has been in and out of legal battles over education funding for decades, and the latest round began with a lawsuit filed in 2010 by the Dodge City, Hutchinson, Wichita and Kansas City, Kansas, school districts. Kansas spends more than $4 billion a year on aid to its schools.
The Supreme Court ruled last month that the education funding system remains unfair to poor schools, despite three rounds of changes over the past three years.
The court is considering separately whether Kansas spends enough overall on its schools — and could rule by early next year. Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and GOP legislative leaders already have committed to overhauling the education funding system next year.
The state’s fiscal woes are complicating the work. Legislators are trying to avoid an overall increase in state spending.
Kansas has struggled to balance its budget since GOP lawmakers slashed personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Brownback’s urging to stimulate the economy. State tax collections have fallen short of expectations 10 of the 12 past months, something the governor blames on slumps in agriculture, energy production and aircraft manufacturing.
The new plan taps motor vehicle fees, dips into the state’s share of a national legal settlement with tobacco companies in the 1990s and captures funds from selling off the assets of a state economic development agency to private investors.
“We are pleased to stand up in support of this,” said Superintendent Cynthia Lane, of the Kansas City school district.
Many Republicans remain upset with the Supreme Court’s last education funding ruling and wanted to put a proposed amendment to the state constitution on the November ballot to bar the courts from threatening to close schools in future lawsuits.
But the effort failed Friday in the Senate when supporters couldn’t quite muster the two-thirds majority necessary to pass a proposed constitutional change.
The vote was 26-13, one short of what was needed, after critics said the measure would unduly handcuff the courts. Six Republicans joined all seven Democrats present in voting no.
