District Court panel: School funding inadequate under Kansas Constitution

The Wichita Eagle reports:

The funding of Kansas schools is inadequate under the state constitution, a three-judge school finance panel ruled Tuesday.

It falls short of the “Rose standards” – outlined in a Kentucky case and adopted by courts across the country – that say students should get an adequate opportunity to learn language skills, social studies, health and other subjects so they can grow up to function in and contribute to society, the judges said.

“We find the Kansas public education financing system – through structure and implementation – is not presently reasonably calculated to have all Kansas public education students meet or exceed the Rose factors,” the Shawnee County District Court panel concluded in Gannon v. Kansas. “It is inadequate from any rational perspective of the evidence presented or proffered to us.”

The decision could ultimately require the addition of hundreds of millions of dollars in school funding, even as lawmakers face a $648 million budget deficit for next year. Educators and Democrats applauded the ruling, while Republicans called it politically motivated and said they would prefer to rewrite the school finance law.

Will judges end of raising taxes and smashing the separation of powers? Stay tuned.