Governor Sam Brownback announced Tuesday he's calling for a special legislative session to address school funding.
Brownback said in a statement:
“After discussion with Legislative Leadership, I have decided to call a special session to keep Kansas schools open, despite the Court’s threat to close them. It is distressing that the Kansas Supreme Court has put the schools and legislature of Kansas in this position over less than 1 percent of school funding.
I will do everything I can to keep this session focused on education.”
"Obviously, we all have businesses to run," said Rep. Ron Ryckman of Olathe. "Talking to some of my friends out in western Kansas, they're right in the middle of wheat harvest, and so the timing is going to be critical," he said.
Ryckman, who serves as Appropriations Committee chairman in the House, says Brownback has given top lawmakers the option of when they can get most of their colleagues back for the special session.
But he says the governor made it clear in the Tuesday morning conference call he wants the special session to focus on the education funding formula.
The Kansas Supreme Court rejected some changes in school finance laws made by Republican lawmakers earlier this year to improve funding for poor districts.
The justices said poor schools still wouldn't get their fair share of the state's more than $4 billion in annual aid to its 286 districts.
The court warned that schools won't be able to open after June 30 if lawmakers don't approve further fixes.
Brownback said he is working to arrange the particular dates of the session, but he did say in the statement it will occur later this month.
How did we get here?
Facing large budget shortfalls, Brownback cut K-12 funding by 1.5 percent in 2015. The same year, lawmakers changed the way schools received money from a per-pupil distribution to a system of fixed blocked grants - meaning school districts, like KCK, no longer received extra money to educate difficult-to-teach students.
Four school districts, including KCK, sued the state and argued school funding was not equitable.
In February, the state Supreme Court agreed. The justices first ruled that unless poorer districts began receiving more money by June 30, public schools would be shut down.
In April, lawmakers passed a bill intending to fix the education funding formula. Brownback signed the bill, but the court recently ruled the measure had not solved the problem and reiterated the June 30 deadline.
What needs to be done in the special session?
Many Kansas lawmakers are looking forward to this special session.
Rep. Stephanie Clayton from District 19 and Sen. Greg Smith from Overland Park both agreed that the court's timing to pass down the decision wasn't ideal. But Clayton told 41 Action News there are a couple of things in the works.
"There is some foot dragging in regards to the court ruling in the first place but overall all of the agency here with the legislators so we have the power, we have the control, this is our responsibility and we're going to get it done," Clayton said.
Smith said that in the two-hour meeting he had on the last legislative day, it was obvious that there were different ideas on the table.
"If for some reason we would even revisit the old formula that was repealed, I represent three school districts in Johnson County: Shawnee Mission, Olathe and DeSoto. Each of those schools stands to lose a ton of money if we go back to that old formula, and I'm not willing to let that happen to the kids in my school district," Smith said.
Both say they're ready to get to work on this issue and do not expect this to be a long special session.
Ryckman says in the special session, lawmakers must start the funding process from the very beginning, including a committee process.
"We're committed to making sure that we do what's best for our kids and for our parents and for our teachers," he said. "We're going to make sure our schools remain open."
Ryckman expects the process will take a few days at the very least.
A 2005 special session, also on school finance, went 11 days in the Senate and 12 days in the House.
So far, conference calls about this year's special session have not included Democrats.
"I'm concerned that we wouldn't be part of the phone call, but it doesn't surprise me coming from this particular governor," said Minority Leader Sen. Anthony Hensley.
"Anyone who can find a way to eventually get to yes should be included in the discussion," Ryckman said.
The court noted one possible solution would be defaulting to the previous funding formula. However, Ryckman says that option would take money out of Johnson County schools and re-distribute it to the rest of the state. He also acknowledged any new decision reached by lawmakers could find its way to court again.
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