Parents of Shawnee Mission school district students have lost a case today that would have allowed the district to increase the local option budget.

   Judge John W. Lundstrom ruled, in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kansas, that it would not be possible to rule on this portion of school funding without addressing the entire public school funding system in Kansas.

   "Today's decision leaves intact the balance struck by the people's elected representatives in the legislature related to the financing of our public schools," said Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who had sought the dismissal that was granted today. "We will continue to defend the authority of the legislature and the governor to set school funding priorities and to balance competing interests."

   The Shawnee Mission School District has no inherent authority outside the statutory funding scheme to impose a local tax to benefit the district, the judge ruled. The court will not rule on whether there is a rational basis for the local option budget cap, the judge stated. The case was dismissed for lack of standing.

   The case was brought in federal court by parents who claimed that the LOB cap in the Kansas law violated the equal protection clause and due process clause of the U.S. constitution.

   Students and parents from other districts were allowed to intervene in the case.

   Kansas in the past few years has made cuts to school funding throughout the state, and this case, if it had moved forward, would have resulted in the ability of a Johnson County school district to raise more funds, more than allowed by the law, for the schools there from property tax increases.

   Another case is going through the Kansas courts, from students in Wyandotte County and other areas of the state, that is challenging the budget cuts to school districts with large numbers of low-income and minority students.

   To read today's opinion, visit https://ecf.ksd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/Opinions.pl?currentYear, Petrella et al v. Brownback et al.