Justia Kansas Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

After the Unified School District No. 365 initiated condemnation proceedings on property owned by Donald and Susan Diebolt, the trial judge appointed three appraisers, who valued the property at $278,800. During the trial, the trial court allowed Donald to express a valuation opinion as to the property but excluded Donald’s testimony regarding the value of the property that was not relevant to the jury’s determination and that was beyond Donald’s expertise. The Diebolts appealed the trial court’s exclusion of the testimony. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the trial court did not abuse his discretion in excluding the evidence, where Donald was not qualified to perform a cost appraisal and did not have appraisal expertise.View "Unified Sch. Dist. No. 365 v. Diebolt" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs, school districts and individuals, filed suit against the State, alleging, among other claims, that the State violated the Kansas Constitution by failing to provide a suitable education to all Kansas students. A district court panel concluded (1) the State violated Kan. Const. art. VI when the legislature underfunded K-12 public education between fiscal years 2009 and 2012; (2) the legislature failed to consider the actual costs of providing a constitutionally required education before making its funding decisions; and (3) the legislature withheld or reduced certain funding to which school districts were statutorily entitled. The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part, holding (1) certain Plaintiffs did not have standing to bring some claims; (2) the panel did not apply the correct constitutional standard in determining that the State violated the Article 6 requirement of adequacy in public education; and (3) the State created unconstitutional, wealth-based disparities by (i) withholding all capital outlay state aid payments to which certain school districts were otherwise entitled, and (ii) prorating the supplemental general state aid payments to which certain districts were entitled. Remanded.View "Gannon v. State" on Justia Law