Kansas Lawmakers Set Money Aside for School Funding Challenge

(AP) – Republican lawmakers are preparing to set aside $50,000 so the Kansas Legislature can hire attorneys to represent it on school funding issues.

The addition of the spending to a budget-balancing plan prompted Democratic Rep. Jim Ward of Wichita to suggest Wednesday that GOP leaders are preparing to defy a recent Kansas Supreme Court ruling on education funding.

Olathe Republican and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Ron Ryckman Jr. said legislators need legal advice about how to respond to the order.

The Supreme Court ruled that a GOP-backed school funding law enacted last year unfairly shorts poor school districts financially.

The court ruled in a lawsuit pursued by four school districts, and the attorney general’s office has hired a law firm to help represent the state. The Legislature is not a defendant.