Feb 15, 2016
By now everyone has likely heard the Kansas Supreme Court opinion that was issued last week on Feb. 11th. In that opinion related to the equity portion of the Gannon school finance case the court found that the current school funding statute fails to meet constitutional muster. The opinion itself is 80 pages in length and can be accessed here:
http://www.kscourts.org/Cases-and-Opinions/opinions/SupCt/2016/20160211/113267.pdf
After reading all 80 pages I was both disappointed and impressed. Disappointed that the adequacy portion of the case is taking so long to resolve and impressed because this opinion is well written, examines every point made by each side in the case and then goes on to cite the appropriate legal reference to substantiate the findings that were made. The court’s finding was hardly unexpected. They did not impose a remedy on the legislature, they simply weighed the evidence, balanced it with the appropriate legal standard and arrived at a conclusion.
Undoubtedly, the court will come under fire by many of those far right legislators who proposed the current school funding statute. It will certainly be worth watching to see how the legislature responds in the weeks ahead. Will they resort to name calling and political maneuvering to prolong the issue? Let’s hope that objective minds will go to work to address the equity issues in a productive and timely manner.
http://cjonline.com/opinion/2016-02-13/editorial-legislators-need-get-board