Kansas Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Law Ending Tenure

The Kansas Supreme Court has rejected a legal challenge from the state’s largest teachers union to a 2014 law ending guaranteed tenure in the state’s public schools.

The court ruled unanimously Friday that lawmakers didn’t practice logrolling when they passed the bill. Logrolling is the practice of including several topics in one bill, and the state constitution prohibits legislative bills from having more than one subject.

The Kansas National Education Association filed a lawsuit claiming that the portion of the bill ending tenure violated the rule because the full measure dealt with both spending and general education policy. The court said they were sufficiently related to remain in the same bill.

The decision upheld a Shawnee County judge’s ruling that the law did not violate the one-subject rule.