KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- A group of Kansas legislators was scheduled to meet for the first time Monday as part of a committee to find ways to add funding to the state's public school system.
The special committee formed as a result of the state Supreme Court's October ruling that public school funding is constitutionally inadequate in the state.
KCK Public School Disctrict was among a group of districts that sued the state in 2010 challenging the amount of funding the state distributed. The state Supreme Court sided with districts, ordering the state boost funding to schools.
The 11-member legislative committee meeting in Topeka Monday includes budget chairs from both the house and senate, plus the state senate's majority and minority leaders.
One member described the committee's approach in three parts:
- to review what led to this point,
- discover solutions, and
- find ways to avoid future lawsuits
A nationwide research group, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, studied state public school funding from 2008 to 2015. In a report released last month, it found Kansas cut the amount of money it allocated per student by 9.9 percent over that time period.
The group said with less money, districts have fewer teachers, more students in each classroom and implement fewer education reforms.
There are roughly 300,000 students in Kansas public schools.
The Supreme Court ordered the legislature to come up with a new funding plan by the end of June, 2018.
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