Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, has signed legislation to provide $38 million more to Kansas’ poor districts this coming school year after the state’s supreme court threatened to cut off all school funding unless the legislature made school aid more equitable. The plaintiff’s lawyers signed a letter to the court acknowledging that they were satisfied with the new formula.
Now, the state now has to address a more sticky—and costly—issue regarding the “adequacy” of its education funding. A lower court ruled last year that the state’s funding formula falls an estimated $548 million per year short of what districts need to help students learn the state’s standards.
