School finance is biggest legislative news of the day

The official start of the new legislative session today and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ State of the State address tonight will both be overshadowed by the biggest legislative news of the day: the release of a cost study on K-12 education by the Legislative Division of Post Audit. Will lawmakers accept the results or dismiss them, as they did with the last study? If the study says that education is underfunded, how much more money will be needed? Would that require increasing state revenues, either by raising taxes or expanding gambling? Should funding be based on “inputs,” such as course offerings, or student achievement “outputs”? Will the Kansas Supreme Court accept the study as legitimate? We’ll start to get some answers today.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee