Kansas' governor said Tuesday that the threat of a lawsuit over education funding won't influence the spending cuts he'll make to keep the current state budget in balance.
Gov. Mark Parkinson plans to announce next week how he'll make nearly $260 million in cuts and other budget adjustments. The changes are designed to prevent a deficit when the state's 2010 fiscal year ends June 30.
Some of Kansas' 293 school districts already are contemplating suing the state because it has backed off previous commitments to increase aid to schools each year.
And Parkinson's budget-balancing measures are likely to include further reductions in education funding. School aid consumes more than half the state's general tax revenues, and Parkinson can't impose a tax increase without approval from legislators, who don't reconvene until January.
"My immediate responsibility is to balance the 2010 budget," Parkinson said during a news conference. "The threat of a lawsuit from any particular recipient of funds is not affecting the decisions that we make."
Legislators enacted a law in 2006 that promised continuing increases in aid to schools. It was a response toKansas Supreme Court decisions that said the state had failed to live up to its responsibility under its own constitution to provide a suitable education for every child.
