Parents Sue To Raise School Taxes

[DearAbby]

MISSION, Kan. — Parents in a suburban Kansas City school district where some homes cost $1 million or more have done as much as they can to raise money for their children's schools, including holding country club fundraisers to pay for elementary Spanish programs, counselors and nurses.

But with limits on what private money can be used for and state funding cuts forcing the closure of schools and increases in class size, the parents want a judge to toss out state property tax caps so they can pay more for their schools. Seventeen parents have filed a federal lawsuit that's believed to be the first of its kind in the nation. A hearing in the case is set for Friday.

School funding lawsuits have been filed in 45 states, but most of those ask the states to provide more money for education, said Molly Hunter, director of education justice at the Education Law Center in New Jersey. Kansas provides basic funding and extra money for such things as serving poor, rural and non-native English speaking students under a formula developed in response to a lawsuit filed about 20 years ago.

Parents in the Shawnee Mission School District say they agree the state should provide a minimum amount of money for education; they just want to pay more.

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/18/shawnee-mission-raise-school-taxes_n_825177.html

[last_texas_dem]

1. And some teabagger reading that headline's head just exploded...

[xchrom]

2. Like the war cry in Illinois - 'raise my taxes'.

Both hopeful and very interesting.

[rucky]

3. There are caps on property taxes?

fuggin a. more handouts for the well off.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. Similar to this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=457319&mesg_id=457319

The real issue is that this would create two tier school system with the wealthier areas having more funding and better schools. CA courts have blocked that for years, as has Kansas.