(Photo by Stephen Koranda)Kansas lawmakers have delayed committee work on education funding bills. The legislation is being taken up in response to a state Supreme Court ruling that determined there are unconstitutional funding disparities between wealthy and poor school districts. House and Senate committees had been expected to work on the bills today (MON). Senator Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, says the Senate committee is not yet in a position to begin work.
Masterson says he expects some sort of solution before the end of next week. That’s when lawmakers leave Topeka for a nearly month-long break.
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Work on education funding bills continues in the Kansas Statehouse. The legislation is being considered in response to a state Supreme Court ruling that says there are unconstitutional funding disparities between wealthy and poor school districts. As KPR’s Stephen Koranda reports, lawmakers are expected to start work this week on a solution, but committee work yesterday (MON) was delayed.
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Republican Senator Ty Masterson, from Andover, chairs the Kansas Senate’s budget committee. He says they’re not yet in a position to begin work on a proposal.
“So I think there’s just this buzz on how do we respond, and you’ve got 165 different opinions of what that response should be. And I’m a little nervous just opening it wide open for everybody without some semblance of where you might want to go,” says Masterson.
Democrats are concerned that other education issues will be worked into any solution. Lawrence Representative Paul Davis, who’s running for governor against Republican Sam Brownback, says lawmakers should just pay the $129 million the court says is needed and be done with it.
“This is a no-brainer of sorts. I don’t know why it’s so difficult to deal with the issue that’s been outlined here,” says Davis.
July 1 st is the deadline to craft a solution, but the goal of many legislators is make progress on a plan before the end of next week, when lawmakers start a month-long break.