What’s the Real Problem With Kansas School Funding Formula?
The Kansas Supreme Court says the State’s formula for distributing budget assistance to K-12 schools is unconstitutional. Kansas lawmakers have until June 30th to comply with the order.
Unless the Legislature fixes the budgeting issue, the State may not be able to distribute roughly $4 billion in state aid to schools, so schools will shut down.
This means Lawmakers need to come up with just shy of $40 million. But the solution is not as simple as finding the money and writing the check:
1. Little of the estimated additional money would go to the “classroom” but rather would go for property tax relief. These additional State-dollars will likely go into school districts’ local option budget (LOB) accounts in an effort to equalize disparities between property-wealthy districts and property-poor districts. Therefore, poorer districts wouldn’t have to impose as much in local taxes to fund education.
2. Lawmakers must show the Court that school districts have reasonably equal access to similar education opportunity through similar tax effort. A similar tax effort in two districts can produce different results in the form of revenue for LOB. Lawmakers are struggling to find a way for the State to equalize the LOB funding, without further exacerbating the disparities in tax effort.
Last week, the House and Senate Judiciary committees met to consider possible recommendations on how to comply with the Court’s ruling to keep schools open this fall. No clear plan emerged.
The legislative solution is uncertain, but will developed in the coming days.
