The Latest: Kansas Supreme Court again weighs school funding

TOPEKA, Kan. – The Latest on a Kansas Supreme Court hearing over the state’s school funding (all times local):

2:40 p.m.

The Kansas Supreme Court is weighing whether state legislators boosted spending on public schools enough this year to provide a suitable education to all children, as the high court had ordered.

The justices heard arguments Tuesday from attorneys about a new school finance law but appeared skeptical that the funding plan offers enough money for education.

That law phases in a $293 million increase in education funding over two years. The justices ruled in March that the state’s then-$4 billion a year in aid to its 286 school districts was inadequate.

School districts suing for more funding say the state needs to add nearly $900 million over two years for funding to be adequate. But an attorney for the state countered that the new law vastly improved the previous way schools were funded.

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12:15 a.m.

Attorneys for Kansas face an often skeptical state Supreme Court as they prepare to argue that legislators boosted spending on public schools enough this year to provide a suitable education to all children.

The high court is hearing arguments Tuesday from attorneys about a new school finance law phasing in a $293 million increase in education funding over two years. The justices ruled in March that the state’s then-$4 billion a year in aid to its 286 school districts was inadequate.

It was the latest in a string of decisions favouring four school districts that sued Kansas in 2010.

The state argues that the increase is sizeable and new dollars are targeted toward helping under-performing students.

Lawyers for the school districts argue that lawmakers fell at least $600 million short.