The Advocate - A Weekly Newsletter during the legislative session.Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce Logo
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
March 7, 2014

The Chamber is your voice for business in
Wichita, Topeka and Washington, DC
 

Supreme Court Rules on School Finance

The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday delivered its much anticipated decision in the Gannon v. State of Kansas school finance lawsuit. In its 110-page ruling, the high court found that the state of Kansas was in violation of the state constitution's requirement that funding for public schools be equitable. The court, however, remanded the issue to the three judge district court panel and larger question of whether Kansas schools are adequately funded.

 

The equity issue, with a cost of approximately $130M to become compliant, is related to the state withholding capital outlay payments and reduced supplemental local-option budget aid. Both programs aid districts with less property tax wealth. The state has historically "equalized" funding for districts that receive less money through property tax collections so that students in the poorer districts are offered the same educational opportunities as students in wealthier districts. Beginning in 2009, Governor Mark Parkinson and the legislature used American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) money to fund these programs and diverted state dollars to fund other general government budget items. When ARRA money was discontinued by the feds, the state never completely back-filled the funding, thereby creating a disparity between poorer and wealthier districts.

 

The larger and more expensive issue of whether the state is providing adequate funding was remanded to the district court level based upon the Supreme Court determining that the lower court used the wrong test to determine the adequacy answer. The high court said that using a cost study was faulty and that the lower court should have used questions related to whether the state is appropriating the necessary funds to ensure all students have the opportunity to meet or exceed minimum educational standards.

 

The Supreme Court, without retaining jurisdiction of the case, gave the district court a deadline of July 1, 2014, to either determine that the Governor and legislature has come into compliance regarding the equity issue or propose and enforce remedies. The high court did not prescribe the remedy but seemed to suggest that enjoining the local option budgets of districts should be considered. In layman's terms, that means disallowing local districts the ability to collect local property taxes for school operations.

 

What happens next remains to be seen; the legislature could fully fund capital outlay and supplemental local-option budget aid and hope for the best on the remanded issue of adequate funding. It's difficult to imagine the lower court ruling by July 1 on that issue, as surely the court will need the parties to return to court to present evidence regarding the prescribed proper tests for such a determination. The right to appeal to the court of last resorts, in this the state, appealing to the Kansas Supreme Court, cannot be denied by the lower court on the issue of adequate funding. There's also the possibility that Governor and legislature change the current funding formula so substantially that current facts are no longer relevant to the present case of Gannon v. State of Kansas.

 

 

Other Legislative News 

It was a short, but fairly interesting, week eight of the session. The legislature was not in session Monday and Tuesday and was pro-forma on Friday. That left basically only two days for legislative action and that action was sparse.

 

The House and Senate Commerce Committees did hear from Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition (GWEDC) President Tim Chase and World Trade Center President Karyn Page about the Kansas economy and exports. Tim Chase also talked about the local economic development efforts in south-central Kansas. Both were well received and Senate President Susan Wagle seemed impressed and eager to learn more about the activity in her home community of Wichita.

 

The House Commerce Committee committed most of its attention this week to alcohol regulations. They held hearings on legislation related to microbreweries, an industry growing and doing very well in Kansas. They also began their committee deliberations on the bill that would allow grocery and convenience stores to sell all alcoholic beverages.

 


Senate Passes Strong Judicial Reforms

In what has to be one of the most major reforms to the state judiciary in half a century, the Senate, through that chamber's judicial budget bill, added $10M to the judicial budget and included reforms aimed at making the district courts more independent from the Supreme Court. Senate Vice President Jeff King brought the reforms forward. Key to the reforms is allowing each of the state's 31 district courts to elect their own chief judge. Currently chief judges are appointed by the Chief Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court. In addition, the bill passed by the Senate would allow each district court and the court of appeals to submit their own budgets instead of relying solely on the budget determinations by the Chief Justice.

 
  

Next Week and Beyond 
The legislature now has four weeks left prior to hitting first adjournment. Both chambers will now be moving to consideration of bills sent over from the across the Rotunda. With a decision now handed down from the Supreme Court, focus will be intense on how to handle that ruling and adjourn the session on time.

 


Education Issue Forum - March 13        

Join us on March 13 for a luncheon featuring a panel of school superintendents from the Andover, Derby, Goddard, Maize, and Wichita public schools for a discussion on education and their respective school districts. Cost to attend the Education Issue Forum is $40 for members and $500 for a corporate table of eight. Register here.

 

Government Relations Investors

Cox Communications
Koch Industries, Inc.
Spirit AeroSystems
Bombardier Learjet
Emprise Bank
BKD, LLP
Professional Engineering Consultants
Meritrust Credit Union

Government Relations Staff

Barby Jobe, Vice President, Government Relations, [email protected]

Jason Watkins, Director, Government Relations, [email protected]

Pat Gallagher, Manager, Government Relations, [email protected]

 The Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce is the private sector's focal point for actively enrolling and empowering leaders dedicated to increasing the wealth and well-being of all South Central Kansas. The Chamber's bold and ambitious purpose is to position each business member for optimal growth in today's dynamic and competitive global economy. www.wichitachamber.org

 





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Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce | 316-265-7771 | [email protected] | http://www.wichitachamber.org
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