TOPEKA — Kansas legislators are moving back toward distributing state dollars to public schools through a complicated per-student formula like one they junked two years ago.
A special House committee outlined an education funding plan Tuesday that uses basic concepts from the state’s previous funding formula.
The panel plans to have hearings Thursday and Friday. The Kansas Supreme Court ordered lawmakers to enact a school funding law by June 30 after ruling that the state isn’t spending enough on its public schools.
Republican legislators in 2015 junked the old formula in favor of “block grants” for districts.
The committee’s proposal would set an aid amount for each student, then add extra funding for students with special needs. School districts would be required to impose local property taxes to help finance their operations.
