TOPEKA, Kan. _ Kansas public schools are constitutionally funded after a decade-long lawsuit forced the state Legislature to add rounds of additional money, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled Friday.
But the court is retaining jurisdiction of the case, allowing justices to ensure lawmakers follow through on promises to boost spending on education.
"We now hold that through (the law's) additional funding ... the State has substantially complied with our mandate" from previous decisions, the Supreme Court said in an opinion issued Friday.
The lawsuit, known as Gannon, has bedeviled lawmakers for years. They repealed a formula for distributing dollars that had been in place since the 1990s and replaced it � and then replaced it again. They added funding multiple times.
The Kansas Constitution required the Legislature to make "suitable provision for the finance of the educational interests of the state." The Supreme Court has interpreted that to require adequate and equitable funding.
In a series of decisions in the past few years, the high court repeatedly found the way the state funding education was unconstitutional.
It wasn't until 2018 when lawmakers reached a breakthrough. That year, the Legislature passed and then-Gov. Jeff Colyer signed a massive plan to increase annual school funding by $525 million a year. The increase is still being phased in.
It was a repudiation of former Gov. Sam Brownback's plan to fund schools through what he called "block grants" to districts. Brownback touted the plan as a way to give schools flexibility to spend money where they needed to, but the districts argued and the Supreme Court agreed it was essentially just a spending freeze.
The Supreme Court largely signed off on the Colyer-approved plan, but faulted lawmakers for not accounting for funding lost to inflation. So when the Legislature returned this year, lawmakers advanced a bill adding $90 million in annual funding for four years.
Both Republicans and Democrats supported the plan. Gov. Laura Kelly signed into law.
"The saga over public education funding has been long and hard, and it's time for it to be settled. I believe that this legislation will allow us to finally end the cycle of litigation and move forward," Kelly said when she signed the bill in April.
But attorneys for the school districts suing the state _ Wichita, Kansas City, Dodge City and Hutchinson _ said the bill fell $270 million short of what's needed. The plan should have stacked the additional funding each year so that by the fourth year Kansas was providing an additional $360 million a year in funding, they said.
"You don't figure the inflation on a loaf of bread by taking one slice and figure inflation on one slice. It's on the whole loaf," Alan Rupe, an attorney for the districts, said in May.
During oral arguments last month, the justices questioned the plaintiff attorneys more aggressively than they had in the past. Some appeared frustrated they were still dealing with the case.
"I've been on this court 14 years and 11 of those 14 years there's been ongoing school finance litigation ... is there ever crossing the finish line in these types of cases?" Justice Eric Rosen said.
