State teachers union files suit over school finance bill
By Bryan Lowry
TOPEKA — The state’s largest teachers union filed a lawsuit against the state in Shawnee County on Monday, alleging that a recent school finance bill violated the Kansas Constitution’s “one-subject rule” by combining appropriations with policy.
The Kansas National Education Association’s lawsuit calls for a provision that eliminates a state mandate for due process hearings before a public school teacher can be fired to be severed from the rest of H.B. 2506, legislation meant to address a Supreme Court order for more equitable funding between districts.
“In enacting HB 2506, the Legislature ‘logrolled’ the Teacher Dismissal Provisions into an appropriations bill, thereby evading the legislative process and debate that would have taken place had those provisions been made to stand on their own in separate legislation,” the KNEA’s complaint states.
The Kansas Constitution states that no bill shall contain more than one subject and that the subject of each bill shall be expressed in the title. An exception is made for appropriations bills, but the Supreme Court has ruled that subjects unrelated to an appropriations bill’s primary purpose may not be included.
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2014/08/11/3591431/state-teachers-union-files-suit.html