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Saturday, July 29, 2006

Courts - Kansas school finance lawsuit dismissed

The last ILB entry on the Kansas school finance lawsuit, from May 22nd, was headed "Kansas Justice's Lunchtime Chat Leads to Ethics Probe". It followed on an April 23rd entry titled "A Kansas Supreme Court justice has removed himself from future discussions of the school funding case".

Here is how the story today in the Lawrence Journal World, reporting the Kansas Supreme Court's dismissal of the lawsuit, begins:

Topeka — For the first time in seven years, Kansas schools are clear of the litigation that boiled state politics, brought constitutional showdowns and threatened to shutter classrooms.

The state Supreme Court, in a 4-2 decision Friday, dismissed the school finance lawsuit first filed in 1999.

In an unprecedented move, Chief Justice Kay McFarland delivered the opinion and, while standing next to a table weighed down by legal briefs in the case, issued a statement.

“This case is not about winners and losers — it is about the children of Kansas,” McFarland said. “They will be better educated and better prepared to meet the challenges of our rapidly changing society. Kansas will be the ultimate beneficiary.”

Leading policymakers were euphoric to learn the school finance system had passed court muster, eliminating the possibility of a repeat from last summer when political tempers exploded during a special legislative session.

“This ruling is good news for Kansas and a welcome resolution to this case,” said Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who promised to veto any attempt in future legislative sessions to scale back the new three-year school funding plan approved Friday by the court.

After the decision was announced, House Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka, a frequent critic of the court about previous rulings in the case, said, “I’m relieved; somewhat surprised.” [my emphasis]

The story includes links to the opinion, the statement of the Chief Justice, and a full list of court documents.

Recall that Indiana has a school finance case pending; see this July 13th ILB entry for backgrond.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 29, 2006 05:38 PM
Posted to Courts in general