Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson cut K-12 funding by $36 million yesterday, placing schools at the same level of funding they received in 2006. The federal government requires that states continue to fund their schools no lower than the 2006 level to maintain stimulus funding.

For Kansas, that means the state must provide $1.875 billion in general state aid, said Dale Dennis, state Department of Education deputy commissioner for education. There is one loophole, however. The state could apply for a waiver with the federal government that would allow the state to fund K-12 at lower levels without the consequences of losing stimulus funds.

“We are down to the floor,” Dennis told Kansas Liberty. “We cannot cut general state aid any more without applying for a waiver.”

While some legislators support cutting K-12 funding below the 2006 level, others disagree.

On a motion presented by Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood, the Legislative Educational Planning Committee decided to make a recommendation not to apply for the waiver.

“I think that reducing funding for schools to the 2006 level is enough of a reduction for our schools,” Vratil told Kansas Liberty.

Parkinson is the only official in the state with the power to request the waiver.

“It is in his hands now whether or not he requests a waiver,” Vratil said. “But merely requesting the waiver in no way guarantees the U.S. Department of Education will grant the waiver.”

Vratil has served as an attorney on behalf of Kansas school districts.

According to a U.S. Department of Education report, as of Nov. 19, Kansas had received almost $328 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act state fiscal stabilization funds to benefit Kansas K-12 schools and colleges. Kansas has also received almost $116 million in Individuals with Disabilities Education Act funds.

Vratil said he did not believe that maintaining funds at the 2006 level would require the legislators to increase taxes, but said he would keep an open mind when entering the 2010 legislative session.

“I’m just saying we have to consider all the options,” he said. “It seems foolish to me to take one alternative off the table before we even go back to the session.”

Vratil said he did not support increasing taxes, but that he would consider it.

While Vratil wants to maintain K-12 funds at the 2006 level, other legislators think the state should request the waiver and make additional cuts.

The Kansas National Education Association responded to the governor’s cuts in its “Under the Dome” report released today, saying that current funding will “create serious challenges for many school districts.”

“While some will be able to turn to contingency reserve funds, many school districts have inadequate or no such funds and will be forced to make damaging cuts to student programs,” the KNEA report said.

Both the chair and the vice-chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Overland Park, and Rep. Jason Watkins, R-Wichita, support applying for the waiver and making deeper cuts to K-12.

House Majority Leader Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, also thinks schools should be cut past the 2006 level so that they receive funds that more closely resemble what was allocated to them prior to the 2005 Montoy decision. Kansas schools received a funding increase of more than 9 percent in the 2005-2006 school year following the court’s decision, and an additional 9 percent increase in funding for the 2006-2007 school year.

Schools are threatening to wage a lawsuit if they do not receive a level of funding they deem fit, which Merrick says should signal that schools do have extra funds.

“So they have plenty of money to pay for an attorney but they don’t have enough money to educate kids,” Merrick said.

Merrick also questioned whether some legislators and the governor would use the federal government’s 2006 funding mandate as leverage to achieve their goal of tax increases.

Merrick said he was happy with the budget cuts Parkinson made yesterday, but said that he doubted that Parkinson would go the extra length to apply for the waiver.

“If he is the only one who can do it, it probably won’t happen,” Merrick said.

Parkinson’s spokesperson, Beth Martino, wouldn’t comment on whether Parkinson would request the waiver.

“The governor is just beginning work on the 2011 budget today,” Martino told Kansas Liberty. “It is too early to speculate on what he will include in his budget recommendations.”

—Holly Smith

The Week in Review