The Kansas Supreme Court issued an order Tuesday, releasing the court’s jurisdiction of a school finance case after concluding the Legislature complied with mandates to resolve Constitutional violations, by adequately funding public education.
Since 2019, the Supreme Court has retained control on Gannon v. State, pending the state providing incremental funding increases to fund Kansas K-12 schools. Manhattan-Ogden USD 383 Superintendent Eric Reid commented on the court’s decision Wednesday on KMAN’s In Focus. He says the order creates some angst for public schools, given the history of challenges school funding has faced in Kansas.
USD 383 School Board President Jayme Morris-Hardeman says education is economic development.
In response to Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach stated on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the court had made the right decision.
The case ended when the court-ordered remedy was achieved. That is why we made the request to the court. The court made the right decision. #ksleg https://t.co/zP0H21dlKg
— Kris W. Kobach (@KrisKobach1787) February 7, 2024
Gov. Laura Kelly also responded in a statement saying: “The Legislature must not take this ruling as license to cut funding from our public schools and crush an entire generation of Kansas students.”
