Uneven funding of school districts in Kansas has prompted the Kansas Supreme Court to order lawmakers to ensure even funding, because the current situation violated the state constitution.

After a former precedent-setting case that regulated school funding was ignored, the Gannon case, named after the Gannon family from Wichita, was introduced as the new solution. The Gannon family has three children who have attended Wichita Public Schools, and their son, Luke, is the namesake of the case.

The previous case that was designed to regulate funding in school districts was the Montey case. However, it was left unenforced.

This defiance led to the Gannon case being introduced.

“Essentially, the Kansas State Legislature defied the ruling of the Court in the Montey case and drastically reduced the amount of money given to local school districts,” said Jeff Gannon, father of the plaintiff Luke Gannon.

There are two aspects of the Gannon case. The court has said that school finance must be both adequate and equitable.

“Adequacy is that there are enough resources in the system dedicated to the task to get the proper education for all Kansas kids,” said John Robb, a lawyer who tried the Gannon case. “Equity demands that the resources in the system be distributed fairly among school districts.”

Beginning in 2009, the Kansas legislature started reducing state school funding, creating a disparity between the poorer and wealthier school district. The Supreme Court issued an order to reconsider the funding by July 1, 2014. Many Kansas legislators deemed the deadline to be unreasonable.

“The courts take as long as they want to make their rulings, and they put deadlines on us?” said Rep. Steve Huebert, R-Valley Center in the Wichita Eagle. “We have our structure of deadlines already built in, I think that’s presumptuous.”

Robb says that he believes the issues lie with those in the Kansas Legislature who are against public education.

“They game the legislative process and come up with unconstitutional laws that we have been forced to litigate,” Robb said.

Republican leaders in the Senate proposed a plan to increase school spending by $134 million to increase funding for poorer school districts. However, the proposed plan would cut an estimated $57 million from transportation, virtual classes and dropout prevention programs.

“All avenues are open for discussion,” senator Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, said in the Journal-World. “Our goal is to meet the requirement of the court and provide equity for students across Kansas, and taxpayers.”

There’s nothing set in stone yet as to how the new laws will affect USD 497, but the district could have to make some changes. However, the changes may be positive. According to preliminary financials cited in the case, USD 497 may be over one million dollars underfunded.

“If any of the cuts to other funding sources are adopted, the district will need to review the financial impact and determine if we have to cut our budget to align with the possible reduction in state funding,” said Shannon Kimball, vice president of the USD 497 school board.

Many democrats have been concerned that cutting funds from other areas of education will just create more issues in the long run.

The Gannon case has scored a victory recently, as it has with its entire trip through the lower courts, with the Kansas Supreme Court recently siding with the plaintiffs. The Kansas Supreme Court found the current funding system unconstitutional on March 7, 2014.

Though morale is bolstered for the plaintiffs due to their recent victory, some are disappointed in the tentative ruling of the Kansas Supreme court. For now, the idea is to wait and see how the legislators rewrite the funding laws.

“I am pleased with the theoretical ruling that there are inadequacies in funding. However, I believe the Supreme Court of Kansas cowered to the pressure of the Governor and Legislature. I am disappointed they referred… to a lower court,” Gannon said.

Robb, however, remains cautiously hopeful.

“The legislative process is a messy one, often likened to the process of making sausage. We will see all sorts of extreme ideas trotted out in the next several weeks. The hope for Kansas kids is that calmer heads prevail and they actually adopt only the stuff that benefits kids rather than the stuff that advances political ideology,” Robb said.

On Sunday, April 6th, the Kansas Senate and House passed a bill that spends $126 million to make up for the gap in school funding. The bill also promotes school choice and removes due process rights, or the rule stating that districts must have reason to fire teachers. According to the Kansas City Star, the bill passed by a narrow margin of the minimum 63 votes in the House and just 22 votes in the Senate.

“The school finance bill passed by the Legislature today fully complies with and, indeed, exceeds the requirements of the recent Supreme Court ruling for funding schools,” Republican Gov. Sam Brownback said in the Kansas City Star.