Lawsuit would rob rural schools
Ah, lawsuits.
They're everywhere, and they cover every topic imaginable. Spill hot coffee on yourself, and sue the restaurant for medical damages. Don't like the Pledge of Allegiance? Sue a school district.
Don't like the way school funds are distributed? Sue the state of Kansas.
That's what a group of families and Kansas school districts is doing.
In case you haven't heard, the group is composed of the Salina and Dodge City school districts, as well as some of the individual families within those districts.
The suit is being funded by "Schools for Fair Funding," an organization that includes school districts from Newton, El Dorado, Augusta, Winfield, and Derby.
What is the lawsuit's complaint? That large school districts aren't being given enough money.
Sounds strange, doesn't it? Keep reading.
They say that the 1992 school finance act discriminates against large and midsize districts, because smaller districts are given more money.
They blame a system that weights the number of students that a system has, if the enrollment has been declining. That way, even if the number of actual students declines, the funding won't.
The Lehigh-Hillsboro-Durham school district uses this weighted enrollment method.
And because of that, they allege, minorities and disabled students are being deprived of school funds, because they tend to attend school in larger districts.
Any school district that's not a Wichita or Topeka has got to see the ridiculousness of this suit.
Yes, enrollments are weighted in smaller districts — because the number of students in them is dwindling. Without the weighted enrollments, funding to those smaller, rural schools would drop drastically.
Even with the weighting, money still continues to be tight.
Big cities like Wichita don't face this problem. If they did, they'd probably be eager to accept the "weighted enrollment" system too.
As for the "discrimination" part of the suit, there's no racism going on here — it's just a matter of numbers and dollar signs.
Rural school districts all across Kansas — and right here in Marion County — struggle each year to keep afloat. They want, just like any other district, to provide a high quality of education for their students.
But if the plaintiffs of this lawsuit win their case, the already-tight budgets of rural districts may face even more hardship.
— JENNIFER WILSON
