USD 408 Superintendent Lee Leiker spoke at Marion Kiwanis on Tuesday about school finance in the wake of a Kansas Supreme Court ruling and legislation passed on the issue.

What the court ruled and the legislature passed was for the state to fully fund equalization payments to all but the wealthiest school districts.

School districts have a local option budget, which can be no more than 30 percent of the general fund budget, funded partly by local taxes and partly by state aid. The state is supposed to fund 48 percent of Marion’s local option budget, but has only been funding 38 percent of it in recent years.

The developments to restore that funding to a full 48 percent will allow the school district to increase its budget by about $120,000 without increasing local taxes, Leiker said.

President Macky Taylor reported on Monday’s Kiwanis Honor Banquet and said there was a good delegation of Kiwanians present to recognize the high school honor students.

Virginia Higgins, the lieutenant governor for Kansas Kiwanis, will attend the next meeting Tuesday.