Kansas Board of Education Responds To New School Funding Lawsuit (KS)

December 17, 2010

The Kansas Board of Education took issue Wednesday with the naming of the Board and the Kansas Education Commissioner as defendants in a new lawsuit filed last week, saying the move was inappropriate.

Last week, a new lawsuit was filed by parents of students in Shawnee Mission School District naming Governor Parkinson and a list of education officials. The lawsuit claims that the limit on how much a local school district can raise on its own violates the 1st and 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The group hopes the move will prevent a number of schools from closing.

State Board of Education Chairwoman Janet Waugh said in a statement, ““The Kansas State Board of Education supports suitable funding of Kansas public schools as specified in the Kansas Constitution and in state statute. This includes following the Kansas law related to the Local Option Budget.

While the Board will c ontinue to express its support for existing law and the adequate and suitable funding of the educational interests of the State, it has no authority – either through the constitution or state statute – to alter, amend or change the LOB cap.”

This new lawsuit joins a long history of legal battles over school funding. A major lawsuit was filed this summer when a group called Students For Fair Funding claimed the state legislature was not fully funding the education budget as agreed to in an earlier legal settlement.

Governor Parkinson made initial cuts to school funding last year but school budgets survived deeper cuts during last year’s legislative session. With the state facing another $500 million budget shortfall this year, legislators will have to keep the pending lawsuits in mind as they work to balance next year’s budget.