TOPEKA — On Tuesday, the Kansas Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Gannon v. Kansas education funding lawsuit — and they expressed doubts whether the better than $500 million in new funding is adequate or whether future lawmakers would make good on the promise of current lawmakers to actually pay up.
Justice Lee Johnson was skeptical about lawmaker intent down the road.
Earlier this year, lawmakers approved almost $550 million over five years after the Supreme Court said prior funding was inadequate. Attorney General Derek Schmidt has argued the proposal is constitutionally compliant. Attorneys representing school districts, however, say the new money is still woefully short of what’s needed to properly fund education.
A decade ago, lawmakers agreed to add around $500 million a year to K-12 education. Once the Great Recession hit, lawmakers backed away from that promise and education funding has been a constant court battle since then. Justice Eric Rosen warned against a repeat.
The Supreme Court has said it should issue a ruling before the end of the academic and fiscal year June 30. If it rejects the new funding, a special session would be likely to hash out a new plan. That would also likely spark a backlash which developed during the last two sessions to take court oversight out of the education funding process.
