Kansas Supreme Court and School Finance Litigation

In the past few weeks and over the next week, you have seen or will see a great deal of ads relating to several issues regarding retention of Supreme Court justices by groups wishing to oust or retain the Kansas Supreme Court Justices. Regardless of your stance on the issues, please be aware of this school-related information that you may not see mentioned by any advertising.  There are differing views of the retention issue for the Kansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals justices; the impact of a change in composition of the Courts could directly affect rulings on school finance.  The duty of the Courts is to rule on technical issues without imposing a political agenda.  The Kansas Supreme Court will be ruling on the Gannon case (adequacy of school funding) soon and all schools will be affected by the ruling. A “yes” vote retains the justices; a “no” vote removes them from the bench, meaning the governor appoints replacements.  With five justices up for retention election, should they lose the retention election, compliance with any constitutional funding requirements would be interpreted by a panel of new appointments by the governor.