TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican lawmakers narrowly passed an education funding plan Thursday in the Kansas Senate, overcoming bipartisan skepticism that it would increase spending enough on public schools to satisfy a court mandate.

The vote was 21-18 on a bill that would phase in a $274 million increase in school funding over five years, targeting some of the dollars to early childhood education to ensure that fewer children fall behind early.

Republicans hold a 30-seat majority in the 40-member Senate but were split. Some conservatives were upset with the Kansas Supreme Court’s ruling in October that the state’s current education funding of more than $4 billion a year isn’t sufficient under the state constitution, even with increases approved last year. Some GOP moderates questioned whether the plan was big enough, and the chamber’s nine Democrats and one independent member opposed it.

“This bill doesn’t get us where we need to be,” said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat. “This bill is woefully inadequate in terms of the funding it’s providing.”

Senate GOP leaders sold some fellow Republicans on voting for the bill to keep lawmakers moving toward meeting the court’s mandate. The justices gave the attorney general until April 30 to report on how legislators fixed the problems the court identified.

“We’re going to haggle over the dollars,” Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Molly Baumgardner, a conservative Louisburg Republican, told fellow GOP senators during a caucus.

The House has approved a plan to phase in a roughly $520 million increase in education funding over five years, and Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer publicly endorsed it Wednesday. The final version of a plan would be drafted by negotiators for the two chambers.

Colyer has called on the Republican-controlled Legislature to pass a bill before taking an annual 2½-week spring break that is scheduled to start Saturday. Lawmakers return from that break April 26 — only four days before the court’s deadline.

Supporters of the House plan contend the state can cover the additional spending with the annual growth in the state’s tax collections, which have been stronger than expected for 10 consecutive months. But top Republican senators contend the state could not afford it without increasing taxes within the next two years. Colyer has said legislators should not raise taxes, and most lawmakers do not want to do that.

Many Democrats question whether the House plan is enough, too. The Supreme Court did not set a specific figure in its October ruling but hinted that it could be $650 million more a year. The four school districts that sued the state in 2010 argue that the figure is even higher.

But some Republicans supporting the Senate plan predicted that the Supreme Court would accept it because of how it targets its new funding for specific programs to help ensure that young children don’t fall behind in school early. Others said the new money also builds on past increases.

“It’s more than enough,” said Sen. Ty Masterson, a conservative Andover Republican.