Friday, February 12, 2016
FUNDING
From PAGE 1
the 2014-2015 school year.
Upon passage of SB 7, the
plaintiffs filed a motion seeking a declaratory judgement
finding the bill unconstitutional and asking for injunctive relief, which would have
essentially repealed SB 7
and reinstated the previous
school finance formula. In
June of 2015, a three-judge
panel declared SB 7 unconstitutional, at which time the
state filed a motion requesting a stay which the Supreme
Court granted.
Thursday, the Supreme
Court affirmed the panel’s
decision and determined that
SB 7 fails to address the inequities declared to exist. In an
effort to prevent the immediate closure of schools, the
court did grant a stay until
July 1, 2016. The legislature
has until June 30 to enact a
constitutionally equitable
school finance decision. It
is unknown if the legislature
can create a formula by that
deadline.
“It certainly is a daunting challenge,” Davidson
said. “Considering the state
is suffering from financial
strife right now, so there is
no money. I am concerned
about how they are going to
solve both the adequacy and
the equity part.”
The ruling Thursday only
addressed the equity portion
of the lawsuit. The Supreme
Court granted a stay on the
adequacy portion of the case.
While the stay prevented immediate school closures, the possibility still
looms for July. Davidson
acknowledges that the idea
of school closures is frightening and would have a tremendous impact on the entire
state.
“The idea of closing
schools is a frightening thing
for all of us,” Davidson said.
“We hear that statement and
it causes us all to pause and
take a deep breath.
“Not only is it children
who would lose out on their
education. We employ 1,000
people who would be out of
a job at least for a temporary
period of time. So it really
has an impact on the community. That means that the
people that provide services
in town don’t have the customers that would normally
be available to them due to
limited dollars to spend. ...
It will just have an impact on
everyone,” she said.
For now, schools will have
to wait and see how the legislature responds and what
steps will be taken. In the
meantime, Davidson says the
district will continue to focus on meeting the needs of
students with the resources
available.
“We are going to continue
to try to maintain our focus
on children and education
and making sure that our
kids get the best education
that they can and that they
are prepared for the world of
work,” Davidson said. “We
are going to do everything
we can to make sure that the
impact for those students is
as little as possible.”
Governor Sam Brownback issued the following
statement on Thursday.
“Kansas has among the
best schools in the nation
and an activist Kansas Supreme court is threatening
to shut them down,” Brownback said. “We will review
this decision closely and
work with the Legislature to
ensure the continued success
of our great Kansas schools.”
JONES
From PAGE 1
mess comes your message
and out of your test comes
your testimony.”
Jones said of his races each
one had something unique
that made it his favorite, he
compared the races to his
children, he couldn’t just pick
one favorite. Most recently
he ran one marathon on Antarctica on a Tuesday and ran
another in Chile on Friday.
Jones noted the marathon in
Chile was one of his best race
times and attributes the speed
to his adrenaline to finish the
seventh marathon.
As Jones reflects on his
accomplishments, the people
of Emporia stand out in his
mind. If it wasn’t for the fundraising Emporia did to benefit
him, he might not be alive.
V
V
V
THE GAZETTE, EMPORIA, KANSAS
V
V
Page 3
V
HISTORY OF SCHOOL FINANCE
Kansas school districts a