Kansas Republicans were dumbfounded, shocked, amazed, baffled, flabbergasted, tongue tied, perplexed, and at times, outraged when a report commissioned by the Republican body, designed to find out what was needed to fund Kansas education came back with the same answer they have heard repeatedly from the Kansas Supreme Court for years.
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Rep. Jim Karleskint, R-Tonganoxie, also said he was not expecting such a report.
"I still don't understand it totally after seeing it just briefly, but I think the numbers, those that commissioned the study were surprised with what it says," he said after the presentation.
Some senators noticed data line discrepancies — for example, tiny Oberlin school district and Olathe school district had their number of students transposed in a sheet; however, few of these changes are viewed as changing the fundamental nature of the report — that the Kansas Supreme court is right, and has been for some time, and that the state legislature will spend the next few months of session debating how they intend to successfully fund schools.
Gov. Jeff Colyer, who succeeded Sam Brownback upon his appointment as an ambassador, kicked off his tenure with a speech to the body calling for an end to lawsuits over education by saying a solution needed to happen — combined with an agreement to a constitutional amendment that would make lawsuits over “adequate” and “equitable” school funding — currently enshrined in the state constitution — a thing of the past.
In order to pass such a measure, you’d have to get a 2/3 passage in both houses, combined with a vote of the public, and none of that will happen this session, nor will it happen before the next school year — when the plan for funding will be reviewed again by the state supreme court.
When the Kansas Supreme Court ruled Oct. 2 that current funding levels were inadequate and unconstitutional, it did so on the basis of previous cost estimates performed in the early 2000s; those figures were adjusted for inflation. Those indicated the state needed to add about $600 million a year in new funding.
That was the amount of additional funding former Gov. Sam Brownback proposed to be phased in over five years when he presented his budget plan to the Legislature in January.
But the court also said the Legislature was free to commission a new study if it no longer wanted to accept the findings of those previous studies.
Now that lawmakers have that new study, showing the estimated cost at roughly triple what the other studies had indicated, some are now saying the state is legally locked in to a significant increase in K-12 education spending.
The state was advised by the court they could go with their number — or get a study to come up with a better number. The Supreme Court at the time expected a $600Mincrease in school funding; but the report, commissioned by Republicans, indicates a $2 BILLION dollar funding increase is necessary.
Since this report is newer and was sanctioned by the court to reach a number as an alternative, many believe the court will hold this number as legally binding. In other words: Kansas Republicans didn't like the 'high' number from the courts, played the odds. Big bucks savings, they all thought.
Instead, the Texas A&M report hit this Friday and legislators were completely aware that they pressed their luck and caught a whammy instead.