Kansas Supreme Court Denies Petition to Re-Open Lawsuit

February 15, 2010

The Kansas Supreme Court announced today that it will not re-open the school finance lawsuit it ruled on in 2006.  Schools for Fair Funding, a coalition of 74 school districts, asked the court to re-open the case claiming that the legislature was not complying with earlier court orders and constitutional mandates to provide adequate funding for public education.

State funding of public schools has been cut back to 2006 levels, undoing much of what had been done to satisfy earlier court rulings.  In addition, the legislature has repeatedly failed to provide timely or complete payments to school districts as scheduled.

Topeka (USD 501) is faced with about $20 million in budget cuts as a result of reduced state funding.  Other districts across Kansas face budget reductions of similar proportion.

Today’s ruling means that any new legal challenge to public school funding must begin anew at the district court level.