TOPEKA — Kansas legislators plan to discuss a short-term education funding fix to satisfy the state Supreme Court while also debating longer-term proposals for curbing the court’s power to force school finance changes.
The House and Senate Judiciary committees were convening Thursday for joint hearings on both issues.
Republican Gov. Sam Brownback called a special session of the GOP-dominated Legislature for June 23. Lawmakers will address a recent Supreme Court decision that education funding remains unfair to poor school districts.
The court said public schools might remain closed after June 30 if legislators do not rewrite school finance laws by then.
Some Republicans want to amend the state constitution to prevent the courts from threatening to close schools in the future, but such a measure wouldn’t go before voters until November.