TOPEKA — A special panel of three Shawnee County judges ruled Friday that the state has violated an agreement to adequate fund public education. The panel also struck down Gov. Sam Brownback’s system of block grant funding for schools. The judges said the block grant system harms schools, which Brownback had promised wouldn’t happen. The block grants cut school funding as well as increase the gap between wealthy and poor school district, which is a violation of the state constitution, the ruling said. “This is yet another victory for the kids of Kansas,” said John Robb, attorney for Schools for Fair Funding, the coalition of school districts that supported the original lawsuit. “When will the legislature and the Governor learn that they are not above the law and that the Constitution and court orders must be followed,” he said. “They just wasted 113 days and millions of taxpayer dollars in pursuit of an agenda that our constitution will not allow. It is time to play by the rules. Our kids have waited long enough.” Brownback and other Republican leaders denounced the ruling a violation of the court’s constitutional authority. Brownback said the state has increased funding to public education. However, the court rejected that contention, saying that the state merely shifted teacher pension funding to schools, which isn’t the same as providing money for education. Kansas Attorney Gen. Derek Schmidt wasted no time Friday filing a notice to appeal to the Kansas Supreme Court. He asked the high court today to put on hold the lower court’s order to increase school funding while the Supreme Court considers the state’s appeal. He said that the lower court’s order breaks new legal ground in several regards, including trying to reinstate laws that the Legislature repealed months ago. He also noted that the lower court went so far as to declare unconstitutional provisions in two laws that had not yet been enacted when the court conducted its most recent hearing in the case. “The Court stayed the Panel’s judgment for the duration of the last appeal, with good reason. There is even more reason to stay the Panel’s decision pending this appeal,” Schmidt wrote in the motion. However, Alan Rupe, Schools for Fair Funding attorney, said, “when it comes to school funding, the legislature has spent the entire session ignoring their oath to uphold the constitution. Kansas’ schoolchildren, parents, teachers, school administrators, their lawyers, and the courts are not going away until the Legislature and Governor do what they swore on the Bible that they would do. They must provide a suitable education to all Kansas kids.” There is no date set on a hearing for the state’s appeal.
Monday, June 26, 4 p.m.
