Ahead of a special session, Kansas lawmakers on the Senate and House judiciary committees met Thursday in Topeka to discuss school funding.
The joint committee reviewed the history of school litigation in the state, listened to school districts' recommendations and explored the idea of passing a constitutional amendment to prohibit schools from closing. If passed by the full legislative body, the amendment would be put on a ballot and left up to voters for a final decision.
The committee will reconvene Friday morning.
Chairman Jeff King, a Republican from Independence, told 41 Action News he expects the committee to decide on a school funding fix and ultimately make the recommendation to the full body next week.
The special session is scheduled to begin Thursday, June 23.
Here is a timeline of the Kansas Legislature's discussion on school funding on Thursday, June 16:
10:15 a.m.
Kansas legislators are reviewing past state Supreme Court decisions on school funding as they start considering how to respond to a ruling last month directing them to make additional changes to help poor school districts.
The House and Senate Judiciary committees convened a joint meeting Thursday to discuss both potential education funding fixes and proposals to amend the state constitution to curb the court's power in handling school finance issues in the future.
Republican Gov. Sam Brownback called a special session of the GOP-dominated Legislature for June 23.
The court's most recent ruling said public schools might remain closed after June 30 if legislators do not rewrite school finance laws by then.
Some Republicans want to amend the state constitution to prevent the courts from threatening to close schools in the future.
11:45 a.m.
The president and CEO of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce is telling legislators that they're not required to increase spending to satisfy the state Supreme Court's latest ruling on education funding.
Chamber CEO Mike O'Neal testified Thursday that legislators could direct the State Department of Education to shift unused funds among school districts to cover additional aid for poor school districts.
The House and Senate judiciary committees were meeting to discuss potential responses to the Supreme Court's order last month that the education funding system be changed to help poor districts. Gov. Sam Brownback has called a special session for June 23.
Brownback has embraced a plan to boost state aid to schools by $38 million for the 2016-17 school year. Groups representing school boards and administrators also endorsed the idea.
1:05 p.m.
A Democratic lawmaker says the Kansas Legislature should increase state aid to public schools by $38 million to help poor districts but also soften the blow for other districts that might have some of their funds redistributed.
Rep. Jim Ward of Wichita said Thursday that even if lawmakers redistribute aid among school districts to satisfy a recent state Supreme Court order, there should be ways to address concerns in Johnson County.
The county is the state's most populous, and its three largest districts would lose nearly $4.8 million in aid for the 2016-17 school year under the plan Ward embraced. Republican Gov. Sam Brownback embraced the same plan.
The Supreme Court ruled last month that the state's school funding system remains unfair to poor school districts.
2:35 p.m.
A Kansas legislative researcher says the only known instance in which a court has shut down a state's schools as part of an education funding lawsuit occurred in New Jersey in the 1970s.
Researcher Lauren Douglass discussed school finance lawsuits in other states during a joint meeting Thursday of the Kansas House and Senate Judiciary committees. Gov. Sam Brownback has called a special legislative session for June 23 to respond to a recent state Supreme Court order on education funding.
The court said the state's education funding system remains unfair to poor school districts and warned that schools won't be able to reopen after June 30 unless legislators make further changes.
Douglass said New Jersey's schools were closed for eight days after a ruling from its Supreme Court in 1975.
2:55 p.m.
The Kansas Senate Judiciary Committee's chairman has outlined two proposals for keeping the state Supreme Court from threatening to close public schools in education funding lawsuits in the future.
The proposals presented Thursday by Republican Sen. Jeff King of Independence are responses to a recent Supreme Court order that says the state's education funding system remains unfair to poor school districts. The court warned that schools might not reopen after June 30 unless lawmakers make further changes.
One of the proposed amendments would include a provision to prohibit legislators from closing schools in response to a court order.
If lawmakers approved a proposal, it would go to voters. King presumed it wouldn't be until the November election but some lawmakers wondered whether it could be the August primary.
4:20 p.m.
Education groups in Kansas oppose proposals to amend the state constitution to prevent the courts from threatening to close schools in funding lawsuits.
Representatives of the Kansas Association of School Boards, Game on for Kansas Schools and Kansas Families for Education testified Thursday against proposed amendments during a joint hearing of the state House and Senate Judiciary committees.
They said such amendments would prevent the courts from enforcing orders to improve education funding.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Jeff King outlined two proposals in response to a recent state Supreme Court order declaring that the state's education funding system remains unfair to poor school districts. The court is threatening to keep schools closed after June 30 if lawmakers don't make further changes.
Republican lawmakers have decried the threat.
5:05 p.m.
Five school districts and nine chambers of commerce in Johnson County have endorsed a plan for increasing state aid to Kansas' public schools by $50 million for 2016-17.
Superintendents and chamber of commerce representatives had a news conference Thursday in Overland Park as two legislative committees wrapped up a joint meeting on school funding issues in Topeka.
The state Supreme Court declared last month that the state's school funding system remains unfair to poor school districts. It warned that schools might not be able to reopen after June 30 without further changes.
Gov. Sam Brownback has called a special legislative session for June 23. He has embraced a $38 million fix.
But Johnson County districts would see a net loss of $4.5 million in aid under that plan.
------
