Gannon v. State is a series of court cases beginning in November 2010 that concern whether the Legislature was in violation of Article 6 of the Kansas Constitution by not constitutionally funding public K-12 schools in Kansas. In February 2024, the Kansas Supreme Court released jurisdiction of the cases after concluding that the matter was resolved. This memorandum describes the timeline of the court cases and summarizes each of the Supreme Court decisions.
Timeline of Gannon v. State Cases
November 2010: Luke Gannon, by his Next Friends and Guardians, et al., v. State of Kansas (Gannon v. State) was filed.
March 2014: The Kansas Supreme Court issues its Gannon I decision.
December 2014: The District Court Panel finds the School District Finance and Quality Performance Act (SDFQPA) formula to be unconstitutional.
2015 Session: House Sub. for SB 7 , which repeals SDFQPA formula and enacts the Classroom Learning Assuring Student Success (CLASS) Act (also known as Block Grants), is enacted.
June 2015: The District Court Panel finds the CLASS Act constitutionally inadequate and inequitable.
July 2015: The Kansas Supreme Court bifurcates the issues of equity and adequacy. (The Court ruled on equity in Gannon II, Gannon III, Gannon V, and Gannon VI, and ruled on adequacy in Gannon IV, Gannon V, Gannon VI, and Gannon VII.)
February 2016: The Kansas Supreme Court issues its Gannon II decision.
2016 Session: Senate Sub. for HB 2655, which amends the capital outlay and Supplemental General State Aid formulas, is enacted.
May 2016: The Kansas Supreme Court issues its Gannon III decision.
2016 Special Session: Sub. for HB 2001, which addresses Supplemental State Aid inequities, is enacted.
June 2016: The Court finds that 2016 Sub. for HB 2001 brought the State into compliance with equity, but the Court retained jurisdiction over the issue.
March 2017: The Kansas Supreme Court issues its Gannon IV decision.
2017 Session: SB 19 is enacted, creating the Kansas School Equity and Enhancement Act (KSEEA), with a structure similar to that of the SDFQPA. The Legislature also adds approximately $217.0 million in additional funding for school year (SY) 2017-2018 and SY 2018-2019.
October 2017: The Kansas Supreme Court issues its Gannon V decision.
2018 Session: Sub. for SB 423 and House Sub. for SB 61, which address the issues raised in Gannon V are enacted. The Legislature adds $522.0 million in additional funding over five years starting in SY 2018-2019 through annual increases in BASE (Base Aid for Student Excellence) aid. The Legislature also addresses equity issues within capital outlay, Supplemental State Aid, at-risk weightings, and local option budgets for school districts.
June 2018: The Kansas Supreme Court issues its Gannon VI decision.
2019 Session: SB 16 is enacted, which further increases BASE aid amounts for the subsequent four years, adding approximately $90.0 million per year for those four years and providing after that for adjustments based on the three-year average of the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) Midwest Index .
June 2019: The Kansas Supreme Court issues its Gannon VII decision.
October 2023: The Kansas Attorney General requests the Kansas Supreme Court issue a mandate and release jurisdiction of the Gannon case, as the Legislature had completed its phase-in increases with SY 2022-2023.
February 2024: The Kansas Supreme Court issues an order to issue the mandate, releasing jurisdiction over the Gannon cases.
Gannon Decisions
The seven decisions by the Kansas Supreme Court spanned six years. Each decision is summarized below.
Gannon I
The Court reaffirmed that Article 6 of the Kansas Constitution requires two components to be satisfied for a school finance formula to be constitutional: equity and adequacy. The Court provided the following test for equity: “School districts must have reasonably equal access to substantially similar educational Kansas opportunity through similar tax effort.” Further, the Court stated adequacy would be achieved when the school finance system is reasonably calculated to have all Kansas public education students meet or exceed the capacities set out in Rose v. Council for Better Educ., Inc., 790 S.W.2d 186 (Ky. 1989), including sufficient oral and written communication skills; knowledge of economic, social, and political systems; understanding of governmental processes; self-knowledge and knowledge of one’s mental and physical wellness; grounding in the arts; training or preparation for advanced training in either academic or vocational fields; and academic or vocational skills that enable favorable competition in academics or the job market.
Gannon II
The Court affirmed that 2015 SB 7 (the CLASS Act) failed to cure inequities in the school finance system, continued the stay of the panel’s order, and ordered the State to satisfactorily demonstrate the Legislature complied with the equity standard by June 30, 2016.
Gannon III
The Court found the Supplemental State Aid funding mechanism was unconstitutional, and efforts to minimize districts’ loss of funds were insufficient to mitigate Supplemental State Aid inequities.
Gannon IV
The Court affirmed that the CLASS Act did not satisfy the adequacy component of Article 6, as its structure and implementation did not meet the requirements of the adequacy test. The Court also found the block grants were not a finance formula, but rather a “funding stopgap,” and found that the level of funding and impact of said grants was inadequate. The Court retained jurisdiction and continued the stay, calling for the State to satisfactorily demonstrate by June 30, 2017, that its proposed remedy meets the constitutional standards for adequacy and equity.
Gannon V
The Court reviewed the constitutionality of KSEEA and held the State failed to demonstrate that KSEEA satisfied both the adequacy and equity components of Article 6. The Court held KSEEA satisfied the structure component of the adequacy test but not the implementation component, and that certain provisions violated the equity component. The Court extended its stay until June 30, 2018.
Gannon VI
The Court held the Legislature corrected the Gannon V equity issues and created no new constitutional infirmities. The Court held the State had not met the adequacy requirement, and that the State’s calculated amount was not factoring in inflation adjustments. The Court extended its stay again to June 30, 2019.
Gannon VII
The Court ruled that the State had shown 2019 House Sub. for SB 16 substantially complied with the Gannon VI mandate to make timely financial adjustments in response to the inflation-related issues identified in that decision, and the Court retained jurisdiction of the case to ensure continued implementation of the scheduled funding.