Brief filed in Kansas school finance case

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Kansas Judicial Center in snowWalt Chappell has filed a brief providing argument and evidence relevant to the current Kansas school finance case. Many expect that the Kansas Supreme Court will rule by the end of the year so that the legislature may act without the uncertainty of a court ruling still in the future.

In a message accompanying his brief, Chappell explained his reasons for filing the brief. You may view the brief below after Chappell’s message, or click here to view in full screen mode at Scribd.

On Friday, September 6th, I filed the attached Amicus Brief with the Kansas Supreme Court in the Gannon school finance case. While serving as a member of the State Board of Education, I had the unique opportunity to gather longitudinal data which verifies that the $2 billion increase in K-12 funding over the past 10 years has not produced a measurable increase in student achievement.

The brief is short, but the data in the Appendices are powerful. After reading the analysis and legislative recommendations to increase productivity, it will be clear that there is absolutely no justification for increasing appropriations or raising taxes to give K-12 school districts significantly more money to spend.

There are bills already drafted which will save more per year than the $809 million demanded by the Gannon plaintiffs. By working together, Kansas leaders can make significant improvements in what and how we teach our children without massive increases in funding.

Hopefully the longitudinal data and analyses in this brief will be helpful as you write news stories about the Gannon case and school finance. This is a major issue and will increase taxes on all sectors of the state economy if the Court rules that more money is required without first implementing legislation to improve productivity and the effectiveness of how money is currently spent to educate Kansas children.

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