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A new plan for distributing state funding for public schools came before the senate today Tuesday. KSMU's Missy Shelton reports.
I'm here in the press gallery of the House of Representatives where lawmakers are debating the budget...on the other side of the building, in the senate, lawmakers are debating legislation that would change the way state funding is allocated to districts.
And creating a new mechanism to distribute state aid to school districts is quite a complicated matter...
That's Senate President Pro Tem Mike Gibbons.
He and other senators are debating legislation that would change the way the state distributes money to schools.
Lawmakers say they want to approve a new funding mechanism, known as a foundation formula before the courts rule in a lawsuit brought by more than 250 school districts.
The suit claims education funding isn't distributed fairly and isn't nearly enough to cover the costs of educating children.
The bill before the senate seeks to address those issues.
Senator Charlie Shields of St Joseph is the sponsor.
He says the existing formula doesn't ensure districts have the money they need.
Shields says right now, there's a large difference between what school districts spend on each student.
The existing formula essentially rewards school districts with additional state revenue when voters choose to raise the operating levy.
Shields says that approach has created the large disparities.
But to level that out, some senators say they fear Shields' proposal will take from the wealthier suburban districts and send that money to rural areas.
Senator Matt Bartle's district includes several Kansas City suburbs.
But bill sponsor Charlie Shields says there's a good reason some of the districts with low operating levies would receive more state aid.
The differences over school funding don't run strictly down party lines...More often, the differences run along geographic lines.
It was evident in debate between Senator Delbert Scott who represents a rural district south of Kansas City and Senator Matt Bartle of suburban Kansas City.
Bartle says his constituents wonder why the state must pay to maintain small rural districts when it might be cheaper to consolidate them.
Bartle speaks first.
Scott says schools in his rural district are growing.
The proposal that would change the way the state distributes funding to public schools is the result of a an interim legislative committee that toured the state last year, seeking public comment on school funding.
