It is difficult to imagine a Kansas legislative session where more is at stake for our public schools. On January 11, 2013, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the current school finance formula is unconstitutional. The justices pointed to the Kansas Legislature’s own study, which sought to determine the level of funding required to meet the constitutional obligation to provide ‘suitable provision’ for public schools, in finding the legislature’s declining financial support for public education unacceptable. In response, rather than recommitting to the increases that the legislature laid out following the first school funding lawsuit, some Kansas legislators have called for a change to the state constitution, so that they are no longer required to make suitable provision for public schools at all. This would limit parents’ and patrons’ recourse when school funding dips to levels at which it is difficult to operate, and, perhaps more importantly, it would set a precedent of changing the constitution to take care of a court ruling with which we disagree.
Less than a week after the Supreme Court ruling, Governor Brownback released his proposed budget for the coming two years, which calls for no increase in base state aid per pupil for the next year. While school districts around the state were relieved that the Governor did not call for additional funding cuts in the face of state budget deficits, given what our schools are facing in terms of increased demands in the classroom, it is clear that the status quo is unsustainable.
Our public education system needs parents’ active participation in the legislative process, now more than ever. A change to the Kansas constitution would require a public vote, likely in April. Holding funding steady or, ideally, increasing the dollars flowing into our classrooms, will require tremendous public pressure, as legislators look to fill the budget gap left after revenues fell following the 2012 tax cuts. And other educational issues are on the table, too, including funding for early childhood programs that help to ensure that Kansas kids begin kindergarten ready to learn, and a new proposal to retain students in 3rd grade who are not reading at grade level. To learn more about education policy in Kansas and how it affects our school, visit the Kansas PTA website (http://www.kansas-pta.org/) or the Shawnee Mission Area Council of PTA (http://www.smac-pta.org/), or contact Prairie PTA’s legislative liaison, Melinda Lewis ([email protected]).
