A three-judge panel in Shawnee County District Court has declared a new block grant school funding system unconstitutional. The panel says the law fails to provide an adequate funding system for Kansas schools.
The top Democrat in the Kansas House, Tom Burroughs, says the state should move back to the old school funding system that was replaced with the block grant plan.
“The old formula has been through the system, has been found to be constitutional and it just needed to be funded adequately and equally,” says Burroughs.
Republican Senate President Susan Wagle said in a statement that the judges were trying to take over the role of lawmakers. She also says she hopes the state Supreme Court will show more restraint.
The state is likely to appeal the ruling. This is just the latest turn in the years-long legal battle over school funding in Kansas.
