Montoy v. State

• Decision Date: 03 June 2005
• Docket Number: No. 92,032.,92,032.
• Citation: 112 P.3d 923
• Parties: Ryan MONTOY, et al., Appellees/Cross-appellants, v. STATE of Kansas, et al., Appellants/Cross-appellees.
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

Page 923

112 P.3d 923

Ryan MONTOY, et al., Appellees/Cross-appellants, v. STATE of Kansas, et al., Appellants/Cross-appellees.

No. 92,032.

Supreme Court of Kansas.

June 3, 2005.

Kenneth L. Weltz, of Lathrop & Gage L.C., of Overland Park, argued the cause, and Curtis L. Tideman, Alok Ahuja, and Jeffrey R. King, of the same firm, and David W. Davies, assistant attorney general, and Phill Kline, attorney general, were with him on the briefs, for appellant/cross-appellee State of Kansas.

Dan Biles, of Gates, Biles, Shields & Ryan, P.A., of Overland Park, argued the cause, and Rodney J. Bieker, of Kansas Department of Education, and Cheryl Lynn Whelan, of Lawrence, were with him on the briefs, for appellants/cross-appellees Janet Waugh, Sue Gamble, John Bacon, Bill Wagnon, Connie Morris, Kathy Martin, Kenneth Willard, Carol Rupe, Iris Van Meter, Steve Abrams, and Andy Tompkins.

Alan L. Rupe, of Kutak Rock LLP, of Wichita, argued the cause, and Richard A. Olmstead, of the same firm, and John S. Robb, of Somers Robb & Robb, of Newton, were with him on the briefs, for appellees/cross-appellants.

Wm. Scott Hesse, assistant attorney general, was on the brief, for defendants/cross-appellees Governor Kathleen Sebelius and State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins.

Jane L. Williams, of Seigfreid, Bingham, Levy, Selzer & Gee, of Kansas City, Missouri, was on the briefs, for amicus curiae Kansas Families United for Public Education.

Patricia E. Baker and Zachary J.C. Anshutz, of Kansas Association of School Boards, of Topeka, were on the briefs, for amicus curiae Kansas Association of School Boards.

David M. Schauner and Robert M. Blaufuss, of Kansas National Education Association, of Topeka, were on the briefs, for amicus curiae Kansas National Education Association.

Joseph W. Zima, of Topeka Public Schools, was on the brief, for amicus curiae Unified School District No. 501, Shawnee County, Kansas.

Michael G. Norris and Melissa D. Hillman, of Norris, Keplinger & Hillman, L.L.C., of Overland Park, were on the brief, for amici curiae Unified School Districts Nos. 233, 229, and 232, Johnson County, Kansas.

Anne M. Kindling, of Goodell, Stratton, Edmonds & Palmer, L.L.P., of Topeka, was on the briefs, for amicus curiae Unified School District No. 512, Shawnee Mission, Kansas.

Bernard T. Giefer, of Giefer Law LLC, of WaKeeney, was on the briefs, for amici curiae Unified School District No. 208, Trego County, Kansas (WaKeeney), et al. (60 other Kansas school districts).

Thomas R. Powell and Roger M. Theis, of Hinkle Elkouri Law Firm L.L.C., of Wichita, were on the briefs, for amicus curiae Unified School District No. 259, Sedgwick County, Kansas.

Janice L. Mathis, of Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, of Atlanta, Georgia, was on the brief, for amicus curiae Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.

Cynthia J. Sheppeard, of Weathers & Riley, of Topeka, was on the briefs, for amicus curiae Kansas Action for Children.

Bob L. Corkins, of Lawrence, was on the brief, for amicus curiae Kansas Taxpayers Network.

Kirk W. Lowry, of Kansas Advocacy & Protective Services, of Topeka, was on the brief, for amicus curiae Kansas Advocacy & Protective Services.

Martha B. Crow, of Crow, Clothier & Associates, of Leavenworth, was on the brief, for amicus curiae Martha B. Crow.

Dr. Walt Chappell, of Wichita, was on the brief, for amicus curiae Educational Management Consultants.

Tristan L. Duncan and Daniel D. Crabtree, of Stinson Morrison Hecker L.L.P., of Overland Park, were on the brief, for amici curiae Individual Students in the Shawnee Mission Unified School District No. 512.

SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION

PER CURIAM:

This case requires us to review recent school finance legislation to determine whether it complies with our January 3, 2005, opinion and brings the state's school financing formula into compliance with Article 6, § 6 of the Kansas Constitution. We hold that it does not.

FACTS

In our January opinion, this court reversed the district court in part and affirmed in part, agreeing that the legislature had failed to make suitable provision for finance of the public school system and, thus, had failed to meet the burden imposed by Article 6, § 6 of the Kansas Constitution. Montoy v. State, 278 Kan. 769, 102 P.3d 1160 (2005) (Montoy II). Among other things, we held that the Kansas School District Finance and Quality Performance Act (SDFQPA), K.S.A. 72-6405 et seq., as funded, failed to provide suitable finance for students in middle-sized and large districts with a high proportion of minority and/or at-risk and special education students; some school districts were being forced to use local option budgets (LOB) to finance a constitutionally adequate education, i.e., suitable education; the SDFQPA was not based upon actual costs, but rather on former spending levels and political compromise; and the failure to perform any cost analysis distorted the low-enrollment, special education vocational education, bilingual, and at-risk student weighting factors.

We further held that among the critical factors for the legislature to consider in achieving a suitable formula for financing education were "equity with which the funds are distributed and the actual costs of education, including appropriate levels of administrative costs." We provided this guidance because "the present financing formula increases disparities in funding, not based on a cost analysis, but rather on political and other factors not relevant to education." We also held that "increased funding will be required." Montoy II, 278 Kan. at 775, 102 P.3d 1160.

We stayed the issuance of the mandate to allow the legislature a reasonable time to correct the constitutional infirmity in the then existing financing formula. Rather than suspend the funding of education, we ordered that the present financing formula and funding would remain in effect until the court took further action, noting: "The legislature, by its action or lack thereof in the 2005 session, will dictate what form our final remedy, if necessary, will take." We set a deadline of April 12, 2005. Montoy II, 278 Kan. at 776, 102 P.3d 1160.

The legislature timely responded by enacting 2005 House Bill 2247 on March 30, 2005, which was modified by 2005 Senate Bill 43, passed during the veto session (collectively H.B. 2247). The Governor allowed the bill to become law without her signature, and the new legislation was delivered to this court.

On April 15, 2005, we issued an order which, among other things, directed the parties to file briefs addressing "whether the financing formula, as amended by H.B. 2247, meets the legislature's constitutional burden to `make suitable provision for finance' of the public schools."

The parties were first directed to address 10 specific components of the financing formula. With respect to each of the components, as well as to the formula as a whole, the parties were asked to address our special concern as to whether the actual costs of providing a suitable education was considered and whether H.B. 2247 exacerbates and/or creates funding disparities among the districts.

Second, the parties were asked to address whether additional fact-finding would be necessary, and, if so, how that fact-finding should be pursued.

Third, the parties were asked to address what remedial action should be ordered and on what timetable in the event the court concludes, without additional fact-finding, that the financing formula, as amended by H.B. 2247, is still unconstitutional.

The parties were ordered to appear before this court on May 11, 2005, to show cause why the court should or should not find that H.B. 2247 complied with our January opinion. We recognized that the burden of proof had been on the plaintiffs to show that the SDFQPA, as it existed at the time of the filing of the action herein, was constitutionally infirm. We held that because the plaintiffs had prevailed, the burden of proof had "shifted to the defendants to show that the legislature's action has resulted in suitable provision for the financing of education as required by Article 6, § 6."

Pursuant to our April order, the defendants, State of Kansas (State) and the Board of Education members and Commissioner of Education (Board), filed separate briefs. The plaintiffs filed a response brief. Ten amici curiae briefs were filed. Oral arguments were heard by this court on May 11, 2005.

We must now decide if H.B. 2247 remedies the SDFQPA infirmities identified in our January opinion and thus makes suitable provision for financing of education as mandated by Article 6, § 6 of the Kansas Constitution. To do that, we first need to identify the changes H.B. 2247 makes in the SDFQPA.

H.B. 2247 modifies the school finance system in several ways. First, it alters the Base State Aid Per Pupil (BSAPP) and several of the weightings and other factors that affect the formula. It increases bilingual and at-risk weightings; it eliminates correlation weighting; it provides for phased-in increases in funding of special education excess costs at a statutorily prescribed level; and it provides for increases in general state aid based on the Consumer Price Index-Urban (CIP-U). It does not substantively change the low-enrollment weighting provision as it existed at the time of the January opinion.

Second, it provides certain districts the authority to raise additional revenue through local ad valorem taxes upon taxable tangible property within the district. Specifically, it provides a phased-in increase in the LOB cap. Before H.B. 2247 was enacted, a school district could enact a LOB that was as much as 25 percent of its state financial aid. K.S.A. 72-6433(a)(1)(A)-(D); K.S.A. 72-6444. H.B. 2247 makes incremental increases in this cap of 27 percent in the 2005-06 school year, 29 percent in 2006-07, and 30 percent in 2007-08. H.B. 2247 also authorizes districts with high housing costs to levy additional ad valorem taxes upon the taxable tangible property within the district....