KASB Blog: Schools remain in limbo following end of legislative session

Schools remain in limbo following end of legislative session

Kansas schools remained in limbo Thursday after Republican leaders declined to work on school finance on the last day of the legislative session and Gov. Sam Brownback made no mention of calling a special session to address a Kansas Supreme Court ruling.

The concern over whether schools will close July 1 increased even more after the state announced tax receipts in May fell significantly below projections, which will probably require more budget cuts on top of nearly $100 million in cuts that Brownback made last month to higher education, health care, children's programs and other areas.

On the final day of the session Wednesday, Republicans, who hold significant majorities in the Legislature, failed to reach a consensus on how to resolve the state Supreme Court's decision last week that the Legislature's proposed fix to equity funding failed to fix the problem.

In that decision, the court, again, reminded the Legislature that without a constitutional finance system, schools couldn't operate beyond June 30, the last day of the fiscal year and less than one month away.

School officials throughout the state are sounding alarms that a disruption in funding and expenditures would jeopardize students, federal funding, schools, teachers and communities.

KASB and USA Kansas have issued a joint statement urging election officials "to continue working on providing a constitutional system for all of our students and resolve this issues as soon as possible."

Amy Martin, a member of the Olathe USD 233 school board and president-elect of KASB, called on education advocates to contact their legislators and encourage them to work on a solution.

Here is an excerpt from Martin's blog:  

We need to stay focused on our goal, which is to have kids back in classrooms and learning on August 17th. However, serious consequences for failing to meet the court order begin on July 1st. Many kids will be directly impacted. Consider driver education, summer meals, band camps, transcript requests, and outside groups that rent our facilities.

Our communities will also be impacted. Most obvious, we will stop mowing. But also consider all the summer construction projects we have going on. Not just the facility improvements that won't be completed before the start of the year, but the impact to the local contractors and workers who are relying upon the work.

Our employees will be left hanging. Most teachers take their pay in installments that continue through the summer months. Many also will face a lapse in health insurance coverage. And with no guarantee of employment next fall, some may opt for teaching positions across the state line.

And finally, all the unseen business of our district. We have financial obligations like bond payments, utilities, and purchasing contracts. We have property, casualty, and liability insurance obligations. Some very serious issues are raised by the prospect of not paying our bills.

And what does this mean for the Kansas economy? Given that K-12 education accounts for 4.5% of total Kansas wages and 67,000 jobs, and that schools purchase $735 million in services and $657 million in supplies, shutting them down certainly isn't going to help it.

So, what can you do? Make sure your friends and neighbors know this is going on. And then reach out to your state representative and senator. Respectfully encourage them to find a solution. The ball is clearly in their court and they need to hear the priorities of the people they serve.