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12  A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION directing the State Board of Edu-
13    cation to define a basic education that Kansas taxpayers should share
14    in funding, to determine a suitable funding base for public school op-
15    erations, and to make a report thereon to the Committees on Educa-
16    tion of the Senate and House of Representatives.
17
18    WHEREAS, A basic education is vital to performance of the funda-
19  mental responsibilities of citizens of a free society and the state of Kansas,
20  from its creation, has financed public schools through taxes and other
21  mechanisms provided for by the Legislature; and
22    WHEREAS, The Legislature is charged by the Kansas Constitution
23  with the responsibility of establishing and maintaining public schools and
24  making suitable provision for finance of the educational interests of the
25  state; and
26    WHEREAS, The State Board of Education is charged by the Kansas
27  Constitution with general supervision of the public schools and other
28  educational interests of the state; and
29    WHEREAS, The Supreme Court of Kansas has opined that the basic
30  mission of the State Board of Education is to equalize and promote the
31  quality of education for the students of this state and that the Legislature
32  may enact legislation to facilitate or assist the State Board in carrying out
33  its constitutional mission; and
34    WHEREAS, The respective duties and obligations vested in the Leg-
35  islature and the State Board of Education by the Kansas Constitution
36  must be read together and harmonized so both entities may carry out
37  their respective responsibilities:  Now, therefore,
38    Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of Kansas,
39  the Senate concurring therein:  That the Legislature, in recognition of
40  the facts contained in the preamble of this resolution and being aware of
41  the necessity to be knowledgeable of the State Board of Education's def-
42  inition of a basic education in order to make suitable provision for finance
43  of the educational interests of the state, hereby directs the State Board
HCR 5014
                                     

 1  of Education to define a basic education that Kansas taxpayers should all
 2  share in funding as a legitimate civic duty; and
 3    Be it further resolved:  That the State Board of Education is further
 4  directed to specify the academic components, such as, but not by way of
 5  limitation, mathematics, language arts, science, and history, that are es-
 6  sential to a quality basic education, and also to specify the activities, such
 7  as, but not by way of limitation, music, sports, and the arts, that are
 8  extracurricular and not necessary to a quality basic education; and
 9    Be it further resolved:  That, upon adoption of its definition of a qual-
10  ity basic education and specification of the essential academic compo-
11  nents thereof, the State Board of Education is hereby requested to re-
12  quire each school district in the state to report to the State Board the
13  costs, with supporting documentation, that would be incurred by the dis-
14  trict in providing the quality basic education defined by the State Board;
15  and
16    Be it further resolved:  That the State Board of Education is hereby
17  directed, upon receipt of the reports required of school districts regarding
18  the costs for provision of a quality basic education, to determine a suitable
19  funding base for public school operations in this state and to report the
20  same to the Education Committees of the Senate and the House of Rep-
21  resentatives at the commencement of the 1998 Session of the Legislature;
22  and
23    Be it further resolved:  That the Secretary of State is hereby directed
24  to transmit enrolled copies of this resolution to the State Board of Edu-
25  cation and to the Commissioner of Education, 120 S.E. 10th Avenue,
26  Topeka, Kansas 66612-1182.