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Monday, July 22, 2013
The University Daily Kansan
GOVERNMENT
Districts argue cuts to education are unconstitutional
MATT JOHNSON editor@kansan.com
Over the next two years, Kansas schools will receive $1.23 billion less in state aid than the amount mandated by existing statutes. After scrambling to fund basic programs and pay for their personnel over the past few years, a number of school districts have sued the legislature, arguing that such a massive budget shortfall violates the state constitution.
Lawsuits of this kind are nothing new in Kansas. In a 2005 case, the Kansas Supreme Court reversed a state court's 2001 decision (Montoy v. Kansas) by ruling that education funding levels were unacceptable. The court required the legislature to redress the problem by increasing funding to Kansas public schools.
Although this lead to a temporary spike in funding, it quickly diminished again. According to the current statute set by the Montoy case, the base state aid per-pupil should be $4,492, but the state has only budgeted $3,838 per-pupil for 2014 and
$3,852 per-pupil for 2015.
Gannon v. Kansas is the most recent lawsuit that includes a number of school districts as plaintiffs. It was heard by a Shawnee County court in January, and the ruling reaffirmed the minimum of $4,492 per student. However, the state appealed the case, which will now be heard by the Kansas Supreme Court. A decision is expected in December.
Even if the Kansas Supreme Court rules in favor of the school districts, there remains the question of enforcement. The court ordered the legislature to provide $4,492 per student in 2005, but this responsibility was simply side-stepped in subsequent years. The superintendent of USD 305, William Hall, considers the actual dispersion of funds a troubling issue hanging over the new lawsuit.
I've heard some legislators make the comment that they expect to lose, but go on to say, 'Good luck trying to enforce it.' So, I think we're going to see a lot of friction between the legislature and the courts as a result of this."
"I expect the court will say the legislature is not fulfilling its constitutional requirement to adequately fund schools, and it will order the legislature to do so," he said, "Still,
There has been a steady decline in state funding since 2006, and a sharp decline since 2009. "This is not new for us," said Julie Boyle, communications director for USD 497, "Since 2005, we've seen reductions. But they told us this legislative session that our funding level would be the same for the next two years."
And although funding will, if the current budget remains in place, remain unchanged in 2014 and 2015, schools have already been forced to contend with insufficient funds in unorthodox ways. Boyle notes one of the most worrying methods being employed across the state.
"You see a lot of districts — including us — relying on contingency reserve funds. We're taking money from our emergency funds and using
it for things that are ongoing. So, you see a lot of districts using those funds for salaries and ongoing costs when that's really not what they're for. If you have an emergency need, then you won't have emergency funds," she said.
"We had to use a portion of our emergency funds to get through the year. The problem with that is: it's your savings account. When that money's gone, it's gone for good," he said.
Hall has similar concerns.
As was the case for USD 305, matters deteriorated the most for USD 497 in 2009 as the economy stalled. Boyle lists a series of cuts USD 497 has been forced to make in the last few years.
"We had about a 10 percent cut to our general operating fund back in 2009. That turned out to be 4 or 5 million dollars. So, we looked at pretty much everything. We closed some schools, we reduced the number of teachers we had — which meant increasing our class sizes. We weren't
able to give staff the raises that we wanted to, we stopped taking a lot of field trips and cut back on what we provided in terms of transportation, so we've had cuts in all areas since 2009" she said.
Hall said USD 305 has tried to implement cost-cutting without sacrificing the quality of education students are receiving. "We've tried to do some things that don't impact what happens in the classroom," he said, "We've downsized information technology, structural assistance, maintenance, custodial and administrative departments."
However, he thinks it's time for Topeka to honor the statutes set by the courts.
"The reality of it is that schools are underfunded. They are not where, by court order, the legislature is supposed to be funding them. They're 6 or 7 hundred dollars less on the base than they should be," he said.
— Edited by Megan Hinman