(Syndicated to Kansas newspapers June 20, 2016)
If that two-day meeting of the House and Senate Judiciary committees told us anything, it was subtle, and it deals with political spin.
What? Political spin in the Kansas Legislature? In an election year? Imagine that…
For all the complicated details of the Kansas Supreme Court’s May 27 threat to prevent a dime of state money going to schools after July 1 if the school finance formula remains unconstitutional, the whole issue essentially comes down to who gets blamed for school districts getting less money—no, not no money, just less.
The issue is that the distribution of state funds to assist districts that have a Local Option Budget (LOB) isn’t strictly equitable, the high court says, and that means the budget bill that sends that money to districts is unfair, unconstitutional, and the court can’t permit it to be carried out. That means no money for schools, and that’s the “close the schools” mantra that everyone is talking about.