This article was originally posted 9/28/2018 on SUBV Facebook page
The pesky Kansas Constitution is getting in the way of defunding schools...Let’s change it.
The Kansas Constitution consists of 15 Articles, and a preamble and Bill of Rights.
Article six is labeled “Education” and consists of seven sections.
If you hear or read a candidate use the words “Constitutional Amendment” you need to stay awake and PAY ATTENTION.
Far-right extremists want to change the Kansas Constitution because they don’t like this part: “The legislature shall make suitable provision for finance of the educational interests of the state.” Who decides what is suitable? Courts have ruled multiple times that in fact school funding is not “suitable.” Yet anti-tax extremists complain school districts will never be happy with their funding level.
Recently the Legislature THEMSELVES commissioned a study. That study will settle this, once and for all, they said. That study will tell us how much we need to spend. Extremists hand-picked the consultant - they wanted a conservative one. Well, as we’ve discussed before, the study actually said they aren’t spending enough. Of course, it depends on how you define “suitable,” so the study authors even gave them choices. If you think suitable is X, it’ll cost you $XX. If you define suitable as Y, it’ll be $YY. By NO measure are schools being funded suitably according to this study. https://www.kansascity.com/latest-news/article205595439.html
They didn’t like the study conclusions one bit. Next step? We don’t need that word “suitable” to bog us down. Their solution? Pass a constitutional amendment removing any definition of how much the legislature should allot to public schools. Then they can do whatever they want. Of course, like everything, they’ll try to sell it as them supporting our schools; this change will allow them to have more flexibility, blah blah blah.
Far-right extremists don’t like being held to the rules, so they want to take their ball and go home. They’re going to turn over the game board. And break some things while they’re at it.