The Kansas Supreme Court has ordered the state to increase its spending on public schools, but it didn’t say by how much.
The court ruled Thursday that legislators must enact a new education funding law by the end of June.
The decision comes with the state already facing projected budget shortfalls totaling more than $1 billion through June 2019. Lawmakers are considering rolling back steep income tax cuts championed by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.
The justices ruled in a lawsuit filed by four school districts in 2010. They argued that legislators were violating the state constitution by failing to finance a suitable education for each of the state’s 458,000 students.
The districts argued for an $800 million increase in the state’s $4.1 billion in annual aid.
