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For as long as I can remember, Kansas lawmakers have been fiddling with the school funding formula — usually at the behest of their constituent school districts. Big schools complain about little schools, rural schools complain about urban schools, schools with extra numbers of special education students complain about schools with few such costly pupils, and middle-sized schools complain about being ignored.
In recent years, not satisfied with the results of their lobbying efforts, some districts have sidestepped the legislative process and gone straight to the courts for relief when the fiddling hasn’t gone their way.
In editorials, I’ve chastised these districts and the judicial activists who can’t read the state’s constitution, which says, in short, that as long as the amount is reasonable it’s up to the Legislature to decide how much should be provided for education.
Districts may think they need more money, and judges may agree, but unless the education system in Kansas is obviously failing in its ability to educate children, the Legislature has sole discretion for deciding the amount.
When those infamous lawsuits were first filed, Kansas schools were not failing their students, and they are not now failing them.
Unfortunately, if the Legislature doesn’t begin to help school districts soon, the situation in classrooms may become desperate enough to warrant such lawsuits.
The Kansas Association of School Boards has noted that “unless the the 2011 Legislature makes up the difference, districts will face a $75 cut in the base budget per pupil, an additional 2 percent on top of recent reductions. In addition, state aid for local option budgets is $32.4 million short of fully funding the equalization formula. This totals an $80 million shortfall for the current school year.”
But that’s not all. School districts have been enjoying $300 per pupil aid through federal stimulus funding. Consensus estimates say tax revenues will not increase nearly enough to replace these funds.
School districts including USD 382 have responded to recent budget cuts by trimming personnel. Most of these losses have been among support staff rather than teachers. But it’s obvious that unless Kansans and the Legislature respond soon, more students will be taught by fewer teachers and that will have an impact on how well children learn.
For as long as I can remember, Kansas lawmakers have been fiddling with the school funding formula — usually at the behest of their constituent school districts. Big schools complain about little schools, rural schools complain about urban schools, schools with extra numbers of special education students complain about schools with few such costly pupils, and middle-sized schools complain about being ignored.
In recent years, not satisfied with the results of their lobbying efforts, some districts have sidestepped the legislative process and gone straight to the courts for relief when the fiddling hasn’t gone their way.
In editorials, I’ve chastised these districts and the judicial activists who can’t read the state’s constitution, which says, in short, that as long as the amount is reasonable it’s up to the Legislature to decide how much should be provided for education.
Districts may think they need more money, and judges may agree, but unless the education system in Kansas is obviously failing in its ability to educate children, the Legislature has sole discretion for deciding the amount.
When those infamous lawsuits were first filed, Kansas schools were not failing their students, and they are not now failing them.
Unfortunately, if the Legislature doesn’t begin to help school districts soon, the situation in classrooms may become desperate enough to warrant such lawsuits.
The Kansas Association of School Boards has noted that “unless the the 2011 Legislature makes up the difference, districts will face a $75 cut in the base budget per pupil, an additional 2 percent on top of recent reductions. In addition, state aid for local option budgets is $32.4 million short of fully funding the equalization formula. This totals an $80 million shortfall for the current school year.”
But that’s not all. School districts have been enjoying $300 per pupil aid through federal stimulus funding. Consensus estimates say tax revenues will not increase nearly enough to replace these funds.
School districts including USD 382 have responded to recent budget cuts by trimming personnel. Most of these losses have been among support staff rather than teachers. But it’s obvious that unless Kansans and the Legislature respond soon, more students will be taught by fewer teachers and that will have an impact on how well children learn.
