School finance lawsuit arguments to be livestreamed

TOPEKA—Thanks to the cooperative efforts of a number of entities, oral arguments involving the constitutionality of the state's school finance act will be made available live over the Internet and be the subject of a half-hour educational program on each of the state's public television stations. The arguments are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. May 11 in the Supreme Court courtroom in the Judicial Center in Topeka.

Representatives of Wichita's KPTS Public Television will serve as pool television representative and oversee the production of a half-hour production of the oral arguments. The public television broadcasts will provide statewide coverage and are scheduled to be aired over the weekend of May 13-15, on the state's public television stations.

Meanwhile, the arguments will be video streamed over the Internet live and later made available as an archive via the Kan-ed Live! Project operated by Kan-ed, a division of the Kansas Board of Regents. Links and instructions for accessing the live broadcasts will be included on the Kansas courts website, and on the Kan-ed project at www.kanedlive.org

There will not be a decision reached on this matter May 11. Rather, as in the case of all appellate courts, the matter will be conferenced by the justices in chambers, researched and deliberated before a draft of an opinion (or opinions) is circulated to the full court for final release. 

Both the Kansas Reserch and Education Network (KanREN) and the Educational Services and Staff Development Association of Central Kansas (ESSDACK) have joined Kan-ed and KPTS in making this netcast possible.