The Kansas Supreme Court will hear arguments this week in an ongoing lawsuit over school funding. At issue is whether lawmakers have complied with a previous ruling and made funding more equitable among school districts. The court has threatened to close schools if the issue isn’t fixed.
The state will argue that the Legislature has complied with the ruling. Attorney General Derek Schmidt says they’ll also make the case that even if justices disagree, public schools should remain open.
“We think the statue the Legislature passed should take the risk of school closure off the table because at a minimum the court now has the ability to strike down part of the law, not the entire funding system,” says Schmidt.
Legislators redistributed school funding to reduce disparities. Attorneys for the school districts suing the state argue lawmakers didn’t comply with the ruling because they didn’t add more funding. They say simply shuffling money around doesn’t fix the problem.