TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on the Kansas Legislature’s debate on increasing school funding to meet a court mandate (all times local):
12:26 a.m. Sunday
Kansas legislators have given their final approval to an increase in spending on the state’s public schools amid intense pressure to respond to a court mandate.
The Senate approved a bill early Sunday to phase in a $534 million increase in education funding over five years. The vote was 21-19.
The House approved the bill on a 63-56 vote. The measure goes to Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer, who has already endorsed it publicly.
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled in October that the state’s current education funding of more than $4 billion a year isn’t sufficient. Many Democrats said the plan will not satisfy the court.
Senate GOP leaders backed a plan to phase in a $274 million increase. They said the bigger plan will eventually force a tax increase.
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10:40 p.m.
The Kansas Senate is debating a proposal to increase spending on public schools in hopes of meeting a state Supreme Court mandate.
Senators were moving toward a final vote late Saturday or early Sunday on a bill that would phase in a $534 million education funding increase over five years.
But majority Republicans were split over the measure and some of them were harshly criticizing the bill.
The measure is similar to a plan the House passed earlier in the week, and it approved the new plan Saturday on a 63-56 vote. Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer endorsed it as well.
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled in October that the state’s current funding of more than $4 billion a year is insufficient.
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8:12 p.m.
The Kansas Legislature’s work on a plan for increasing school funding has stalled with tempers rising among Republicans.
The state Senate had not acted by Saturday evening on a bill that would phase in a $534 million increase in education funding over five years. The House passed it earlier Saturday on a 63-56 vote.
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled in October that the state’s current funding of more than $4 billion a year is insufficient.
Senators were having a lengthy debate over another bill rewriting income tax laws to head off the possibility that changes in federal tax laws last year might cause some Kansas residents to pay more state taxes.
They suspended the debate to pass a resolution allowing lawmakers to meet past Saturday. But the move angered some Republicans.
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6:50 p.m.
Dozens of teachers have converged on the Kansas Statehouse to lobby for passage of a plan to increase spending on public schools.
The Kansas National Education Association organized lobbying Saturday evening in favor of a bill that would phase in a $534 million increase in education funding over five years. It is the state’s largest teachers’ union.
The House passed the bill Saturday on a 63-56 vote, but the Senate had yet to debate it. Supporters feared senators might not take it up.
Senate GOP leaders were critical of the plan.
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled in October that the state’s current funding of more than $4 billion a year is insufficient.
KNEA lobbyist Mark Desetti said the plan is probably the best that legislators can pass.
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1:35 p.m.
The Kansas House has approved an education funding proposal that’s designed to break an impasse among Republican lawmakers over boosting spending on public schools.
The vote Saturday was 63-56. The bill would phase in a $534 million increase in education funding over five years and is similar to a plan approved by the House earlier this week.
The bill goes next to the Senate for an up-or-down vote that could send it to Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer. He has endorsed the proposal.
The Senate previously approved a plan to phase in a $274 million funding increase over five years.
Lawmakers are considering an education funding increase in response to a state Supreme Court ruling in October that the state’s current funding of more than $4 billion a year is insufficient.
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Big differences among Republican lawmakers over how much to increase spending on Kansas’ public schools forced them to return Saturday to the Statehouse under increasing pressure to pass a plan that could satisfy a court mandate on education funding.
Some legislators and GOP Gov. Jeff Colyer have worried that a frustrated state Supreme Court would take the unprecedented step of preventing the state from distributing dollars through a flawed education funding system — effectively closing schools statewide.
House and Senate negotiators had several rounds of talks Friday afternoon and evening to resolve the differences between their rival education funding plans. But the talks broke off abruptly Friday night when it became clear that the negotiators weren’t getting closer to agreeing on the core issue of how much to spend.
The House plan would phase in a roughly $520 million increase in education funding over five years. The Senate’s figure is $274 million.
“Folks are talking, and we’re not getting much closer,” House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr., a Kansas City-area Republican, said Friday night. “We’re not making progress, at least not at this point.”
The Supreme Court gave Attorney General Derek Schmidt until April 30 to report on how the GOP-controlled Legislature responded to an education funding ruling last fall. Schmidt sent a letter Friday to legislative leaders in both parties, expressing “profound concern” that no school funding bill has passed.
The court declared in October that the state’s current funding of more than $4 billion a year is insufficient for lawmakers to fulfill their duty under the Kansas Constitution to finance a suitable education for every child.
Colyer and lawmakers want to avoid a tax increase, and Senate GOP leaders have excoriated the House’s plan as likely to force one within two years. Democrats do not think the House plan or the Senate plan would satisfy the court.
The Legislature had been scheduled to start its annual 2½-week spring break Saturday, then return to the Statehouse on April 26 — only four days before the court’s deadline for Schmidt. For now, legislative leaders expect to heed calls from Colyer and Schmidt to delay their break until a school funding bill has passed.
They do face a potential hurdle: Saturday was the 90th calendar day since lawmakers convened their annual session, and the state constitution requires two-thirds majorities of both houses to pass a resolution to stay in session longer. In the past, it’s not been a problem.
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