John Robb, attorney for Schools for Fair Funding, talks to representatives from member districts.

Schools for Fair Funding (SFFF) met in Newton today, including a one-hour executive session, to consider a possible lawsuit against the state. The only motion offered after the executive session was to approve next month’s meeting in Salina.

Previous action by SFFF resulted in the Montoy vs. State and Robinson vs. State lawsuits that increased state K-12 education funding by about a billion dollars. The current run-up to another suit is based on the Legislature’s failure to keep funding promises made before the current recession.

SFFF membership grew dramatically in the last month to 57 member districts with a total enrollment of more than 147,000 students. Districts pay $2 per enrolled student (FTE count) for membership. If they vote to proceed with a new suit it may cost as much as $5 per student according to John Robb, one of the group’s attorneys.

The executive session was preceded by reports from Robb and district lobbyists. Robb presented funding analysis of four state funding reduction scenarios. According to Robb, Wichita, for example, could face reductions of $11 million this year to $50.8 million in 2012.

Bill Reardon, lobbyist for USD 500, Kansas City

Robb also said that consensus revenue estimates show that without an increase in tax revenues the state’s general fund would require $320.9 million in cuts statewide for fiscal year 2011. The cuts will grow to $855.5 million in 2012 according to Robb.

The data presented by Robb did not include additional local and federal funding that significantly offset cuts in state funding in 2009 and 2010. Federal funding increases will run out in 2011 without new legislation.

About 52 percent of the state’s general fund goes to K-12 schools but so far schools have accounted for less than half the budget trimming from the state general fund.

Bill Reardon, lobbyist for USD 500, Kansas City, explained to about 100 attendees that the House Appropriations Committee, chaired by Kevin Yoder (R-Overland Park), is exploring school district consolidation. Consolidation probably would not result in short-term savings because the state currently continues to pay base aid for both districts for three to five years depending on the size of the districts.

Diane Gjerstad, lobbyist for USD259, Wichita

Diane Gjerstad, lobbyist for USD259, Wichita, reminded participants that there is still a lot of public discussion about district unencumbered cash balances as reported by the Kansas Policy Institute (KPI).

According to Kansas Department of Education data obtained by KPI, districts statewide had $1.5 billion in unencumbered cash on July 1. Unencumbered cash, money not needed for existing obligations. Subtracting bond and interest and capital outlay funds, districts still had $699 million in operating cash. The operating total includes $176 million in contingency reserve funds which are immediately available for use.

Dale Dennis, deputy commissioner of KSDE, told members of the state board of education Tuesday that districts could use the balances in operating funds to cover budget shortfalls by spending down the various fund balances and not replenishing them from the district’s general fund distribution.

Some districts have little or no cash reserves while others may have more than enough to meet what Robb called the “tsunami” scenario.

List of Schools for Fair Funding Districts and their unencumbered cash as of July 1, 2009

SFFF districts –