A trip to the Kansas state Capitol building on Thursday found mostly empty hallways and offices.
On Wednesday, state lawmakers adjourned for the 2016 session without resolving the school funding issue. The state’s Supreme Court ordered lawmakers to fix the problem of inadequate and balanced funding for all schools or stop school funding statewide July 1.
A staffer for Gov. Sam Brownback told the 41 Action News Investigators the governor was meeting with senior staff in a tightly scheduled day and wasn’t available for comment. That staff member said as a result, surrogates for Brownback wouldn’t be available either.
The governor could call a special session of the legislature or address the school funding issue with some other strategy. So far, he hasn’t publicly indicated what his next step will be.
A stop at the House side of the Capitol didn’t get any results either. Members of the House speaker and majority leader’s staffs either weren’t there or were unavailable.
A trip across the rotunda to the Senate side yielded the same result. A receptionist told the 41 Action News Investigators neither the Senate president nor any of her staff were available for comment.
Lawmakers left town on Wednesday on the same day as the filing deadline to run for state office. At that deadline, 39 or roughly one quarter of those state lawmakers will run unopposed.
CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS: If you would like to contact your state lawmakers on school funding, you can find them by clicking here.
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Andy Alcock can be reached at anderson.alcock@kshb.com.
