TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and GOP legislative leaders are condemning a court ruling that declares key parts of the state’s new school funding law unconstitutional.
Brownback said Friday that the state would appeal the decision from a three-judge panel in Shawnee County District Court. He said the panel overstepped its authority.
The law took effect in April and scrapped a per-student formula for distributing aid to the state’s 286 school districts. Top Republicans said the judicial panel is ordering the state to restore parts of the old formula and immediately provide millions of extra dollars.
Senate Majority Leader and Nickerson Republican Terry Bruce called the ruling “utter nonsense.” House Speaker and Stilwell Republican Ray Merrick said it is “87 pages of judicial activism.”
But Democratic legislative leaders praised the decision.——
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TOPEKA–Governor Sam Brownback today issued a statement following a decision issued by the three-judge panel of the Shawnee County District Court. It declared that key parts of a new state law for funding public schools violate the state constitution.
“The three-judge panel has once again violated its Constitutional authority with this ruling. It has now taken upon itself the powers specifically and clearly assigned to the legislative and executive branches of government. In doing so, it has replaced the judgment of Kansas voters with the judgment of unelected activist judges.
“For the first time ever, the state will invest more than $4 billion in K-12 education in Kansas in Fiscal Year 2016.”