Suburbs and Taxes, pt. 2
About a year and a half ago, I wrote about how Johnson County, the suburb I grew up in, had passed a special tax to provide funding for their schools. At the time, I noted that no one in Johnson County seemed to understand the reason the rest of the state was upset: Johnson County residents and politicians consistently oppose statewide funding of education, but have no problem just taking care of their own. Fast forward to last week and we see the latest example of this:
TOPEKA – Gov. Kathleen Sebelius on Friday signed into law the largest increase in state education aid in Kansas history, but the bill still faces scrutiny from the state Supreme Court.
The three-year, $466 million school funding plan will provide significantly more dollars to urban school districts with high levels of poverty. The Supreme Court found last year that the amount being spent on those students wasn’t giving them the same educational opportunity as schools with more affluent students.
“It took some late nights, some frank conversations, and a little bit of prodding from back home, but we’ve now seen legislators make a real commitment to our schools, and to our state’s long-term prosperity,” Sebelius said in a prepared statement.
During the first year of the three-year plan, nine school districts with high concentrations of low-income students will receive an additional $564 per student, compared with the state average of $354. Those districts are Kansas City, Kan., Turner, Leavenworth, Topeka, Wichita, Garden City, Dodge City, Hutchinson and Coffeyville.
By contrast, the six school districts in more affluent Johnson County will see an average increase of $221 per student. All members of the Johnson County legislative delegation voted against the plan.