Kansas lawyers argue that Supreme Court should sign off on new public school funding law

Lawyers for Kansas argued that the state Supreme Court should sign off on a new public school funding law partly because it was enacted with broad, bipartisan support.

Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office filed legal arguments Monday defending the new law.  It increases education funding by roughly $90 million a year.

The law contained Governor Laura Kelly’s plan for complying with a high court ruling last year that Kansas wasn’t spending enough money on its schools.  The court said a 2018 law boosting funding wasn’t sufficient because it didn’t account for inflation.

Attorneys for four school districts suing the state have said the new law doesn’t provide enough funding after the 2019-20 school year.

The state’s lawyers said the support for the law suggests the school districts are wrong.

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