Attorney general warns Kansas lawmakers: 'Do not adjourn' without school funding plan

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt warned lawmakers Friday that each day that goes by without the Legislature passing a school funding plan harms his ability to prepare a defense.

The Legislature has hunkered down for negotiations over school funding that were expected to stretch into Friday night, with votes possible Saturday.

Schmidt said the Legislature is already well beyond his recommended deadline of March 1. Each additional day “further damages” the state’s ability to prepare a proper defense, he said.

“I implore you: Do not adjourn for an April recess without finishing this legislation,” Schmidt said in a letter to legislative leaders.

The Kansas Supreme Court has set an April 30 deadline for lawmakers to say how they plan to adequately fund schools. The court this fall found that schools are inadequately funded, in violation of the state constitution.

The Legislature typically takes a lengthy April break, which was set to begin Saturday. But lawmakers will continue to meet this weekend with the aim of passing a bill.

The House has passed a bill that would boost funding for schools by more than $500 million over five years. The Senate passed a bill Thursday that includes an increase of more than $250 million over five years.

Lawmakers on Friday began negotiating a final bill. The bill would need to be approved by both chambers and signed by Gov. Jeff Colyer to become law.

In early rounds of negotiations, lawmakers agreed to adopt several policy changes in the Senate plan designed to better target funding for children. The negotiations hadn't yet touched on overall spending amounts.

Schmidt said in his letter that the state’s legal team needs adequate time to prepare briefs for the court. He contends that’s difficult while the Legislature continues to work on competing bills.

“This is not a simple matter of ‘plugging in the numbers’ once a final school-finance bill becomes law; to the contrary, the ‘numerous and much more complex’ issues that must be briefed will take considerable time to properly explain,” he wrote.

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the bills that have passed the House and Senate so far take fundamentally different approaches, he said. That makes determining legislative intent near impossible at the moment, he indicated.

Rep. Fred Patton, a Topeka Republican involved in negotiations, said it would also be nice to have legislation done earlier. He said the sooner the Legislature can send a plan to the attorney general's office, the better.

"A reminder doesn't hurt," Patton said of Schmidt's request that lawmakers move quickly.

Sen. Molly Baumgardner, a Louisburg Republican who has lead the development of the Senate’s school funding plan, said the attorney general’s office has been getting information regularly. She said she is confident that Schmidt can prepare quality briefs for the court.

“Every step of the way, at least the Senate attorney has been meeting with his staff, so they are fully apprised of each step we have taken,” Baumgardner said.

House Minority Leader Jim Ward, a Wichita Democrat running for governor, said lawmakers should have been begun work on school funding legislation earlier and called the slow pace “irresponsible.”

Ward criticized a decision by legislative leaders to wait to develop bills until after the release of a study of Kansas schools in mid-March.

He also called out a failed attempt by Senate President Susan Wagle and Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning earlier this week to hold up work on school funding until lawmakers passed a constitutional amendment to restrict future lawsuits over funding. Denning apologized Thursday for that.

“And you have the absurdity of today getting a letter from the attorney general of the state of Kansas begging us to do our job in a timely fashion so that he has a chance to defend it,” Ward said.

This story was originally published April 6, 2018 at 12:23 PM with the headline "Attorney general warns Kansas lawmakers: 'Do not adjourn' without school funding plan."