Hopeful end to education lidigation! Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is hopeful  last week’s Kansas Supreme Court school-finance decision in Gannon v. State will hold up as he described the lengthy process. It took seven rounds of arguments at the Kansas Supreme Court and legislative responses to each prior decision, last week the Court unanimously ruled the Kansas school finance system complies with the requirements of the state constitution. Schmidt is relieved this litigation has ended and should not recur as long as the Legislature and governor fulfill their promises, though the court did hold the jurisdiction. Schmidt wants focus to be more on education policy then actual lidigation and at the end of the phase-in period, Kansas taxpayers will be spending – and public schools will be receiving – roughly $1 billion more each year than when this began.

With this lawsuit now behind us, Schmidt says it’s time for a thoughtful conversation about whether this process we have witnessed over the past decade is really how Kansans want school finance decisions to be made.