Brownback Unveils School Finance Plan

Gov. Sam Brownback says he wants to give local school boards in Kansas greater flexibility in how they spend their dollars as well as unfettered power to raise property taxes.

The school finance plan outlined Wednesday would take effect in July 2013. It would junk a two-decades-old practice of linking some of districts’ spending authority to the number of students at risk of failing or the number who don’t speak English well.

Brownback’s promises that none of the state’s 283 school districts will see its overall state aid decline.

Brownback dropped a proposal his administration had outlined earlier to allow counties to increase their sales taxes to help support schools because of what one top aide says was a poor reception.