During Monday night’s board of education meeting, USD 250 Superintendent Rich Proffitt brought several current bills in the Kansas legislature to the attention of board members. Proffitt, always wary of legislative developments that affect education, briefed the board on a few potential bills that, if passed, will be felt by USD 250. The first matter of concern is the Kansas Supreme Court’s decision to relinquish oversight of the Gannon decision. In 2017, the court ruled that legislative changes to K-12 school funding, which reduced state-aid payments augmenting funds generated through property taxation in school districts with lower property values, violated the Kansas constitution, which the court has interpreted as requiring equity and adequacy in the provision of financing for education. The court retained jurisdiction to ensure continued legislative compliance with the school funding requirements and the legislature has since scheduled a series of incremental increases to the base aid for student excellence (BASE) culminating in school year 2022-2023. At the request of Attorney General Kris Kobach, given the court’s stated purpose was to retain jurisdiction to ensure implementation of the phased-in amounts, which has occurred, most of the court grants the State’s motion to relinquish oversight. The fear now is the GOP controlled legislature, no longer under the court’s oversight, will “significantly underfund” public schools in the future, according to Rep. John Carmichael (D-Wichita).
Source: Morning Sun
