Thursday, June 23, 2005

Kansas Education Debate (No, not that one)

There's more going on in Kansas than the debate over whether to teach "intelligent design" in science class. I'm surprised no one's talking about it. Okay, it's not going to make a good joke on Leno, but it's does have runaway judges and it's "for the children". Just the sort of thing conservatives love to hate.

It seems some school districts sued the state over the school funding formula. The funding formula was found unconstitutional. The governor wanted to raise taxes, the legislature... not so much. Legal hijinx ensues. The legislature finally adjusted the formula and passed a $142 million increase in spending. The Kansas Supreme Court was not satisfied and ordered the legislature to more than double the increase to $285 million. Consequences for not doing so: the court will order the schools to be shut down.

Hmmmm. Who's writing the laws here? Whatever happened to the separation of powers? If the people of Kansas want to increase the amount they spend on education, shouldn't they elect legislators who will do that? .

Here's a link to the KC Star's coverage, but I think it requires registration.

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