Special session set on school finance

[atommom]

Our Republican legislature ... as appealing and destructive as a swarm of ravaging grasshoppers ... ;) (Has anyone seen A Bug's Life?)

TOPEKA — Gov . Kathleen Sebelius on Monday said she would call lawmakers back into a special legislative session June 22 to increase school funding to comply with a Kansas Supreme Court order.

Sebelius and legislative leaders said all options — taxes, gambling, budget cuts and dipping into cash reserves — would be considered to come up with $285 million for schools by the court-imposed July 1 deadline.

It will be the first special session in Kansas since 1989 and only the 20th in state history.

Special sessions have been mostly reserved for emergencies, such as the first one in 1874 that was held after a swarm of grasshoppers ravaged crops across the state.

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/jun/07/special_session_set/?kansas_legislature

[beyurslf]

1. A swarm of grasshoppers ravaging the state.....

Hmmmmm, sounds like the Republican Legislative team to me.

[Telly Savalas]

2. Has this sort of thing ever happened in any other state?

I haven't really followed this story too closely, and tonight for the first time I read Article 6 of the Kansas Constitution. So I'm pretty amazed that this is happening anywhere, much less in conservative Kansas.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. a court ordered the state of MO to

fund deseg programs in KC and St. Louis. Judge ordered property tax increase in KC. Not quite the same as this deal with the legislature in KS but still a different way to fund schools.

[DocSavage]

4. Kind of agree with R's on this one

Where is a court given authority to levy taxes. They are not. Taxes can only be levied by a legislature (at least the way the state laws are written now). It is taxation with out representation if a court can do that. with jurists appointed, there is no voter recourse.

While the court may be able to rule that the legislation reguarding school funding in unconstitutional somehow, they cannot mandate that state spending be used in any specific way.

[beyurslf]

5. They ruled that the Legislature had to follow the recommendations

that the special committee that THEY HIRED had given them. if they don't follow those, they have to show why.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. They did it in MO

to fund the deseg plan in the district where I work. A judge ordered a property tax increase. And it was appealed all the way to the SCOTUS. They backed the judge.