$500 million boost for Kansas schools hinges on Senate vote

The Kansas Legislature was poised to pass a $500 million increase for public schools, but opposition from Democrats and conservative Republicans threatened to derail the plan.

The House approved the plan 63-56 on Saturday. The Senate may debate the legislation Saturday evening.

Supporters of the plan hope it will satisfy the Kansas Supreme Court, which has found school funding inadequate under the state constitution.

"The schools will be able to use this money and do a lot of good things for the kids of Kansas," said Rep. Fred Patton, R-Topeka.

Some Democrats said the bill doesn’t provide enough new money, while conservative Republicans said it is unaffordable and would require tax increases in coming years.

“Folks, we are writing checks the people of Kansas cannot afford to pay. We have got to stop this insanity," Rep. John Whitmer, R-Wichita, said.

Dozens of teachers wearing red shirts flooded into the Statehouse on Saturday in support of the measure. They sat in the galleries and lined the entrance to both the House and Senate. They cheered lawmakers who had voted in favor of the bill.

The bill would phase in the funding increase over five years. It includes new money for special education and dollars to allow more students to take a version of the ACT exam.

The House passed a bill earlier in the week with $500 million in new funding over five years. The Senate passed its own plan that would add about $250 million over five years and fund additional programs, like paying for more students to take an ACT exam.

Formal negotiations between the House and Senate bore little fruit Friday, leading House Speaker Ron Ryckman and Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning to strike their own deal. The compromise they reached keeps the House’s funding increase of $500 million but adds some of the targeted funding wanted by the Senate.

"Sen. Denning and I sat down for a quite a while and hashed over where we thought we could end up," said Ryckman, R-Olathe.

During debate on Saturday, the House rejected a Democratic amendment to add an additional $186 million. Some Democrats predict that without that amount, the plan may not pass muster with the Supreme Court.

“Our job is not to add a little bit more money to education and pat ourselves on the back. … Our job is to constitutionally fund schools," said Rep. Brett Parker, D-Overland Park.

Rep. Cindy Neighbor, R-Shawnee, told her fellow lawmakers: “Shame on us.”

“This is a consequence because we have not faced our responsibility. We are adults, we know better,” she said.

The Supreme Court’s decision last fall that funding is inadequate came as part of a years-long lawsuit over school funding called Gannon. Lawmakers have passed several school funding bills over the past few years as part of the lawsuit.

Supporters of the funding deal — including Gov. Jeff Colyer — say they can pay for the plan without tax increases, even as some projections show the state running a deficit beginning four years from now.

"With strong fiscal leadership, $500 million is affordable and sustainable without a tax increase on Kansas families," Colyer said in a statement Saturday.

House Minority Leader Jim Ward, D-Wichita, said revenues exist to pay for the plan for the first three years. He suggested lawmakers can make adjustments later to ensure the plan remains affordable in the years after.

“We have said from day one that we can do this without a tax increase. … After one, we’re going to have to address it to make sure the revenue streams — after two, we’re going to address it,” Ward said.

Lawmakers will know more about the state’s financial situation later this month when state officials and researchers issue new forecasts of how much revenue Kansas will bring in over the coming months and years.

The Supreme Court has given lawmakers until April 30 to submit a plan to adequately fund schools, but the Legislature typically takes much of the month off. Lawmakers were set to begin their break Saturday but pushed it back at least a day to work on school funding.

“There’s assumptions that we won’t know the reality of … until we get back from break. However, the court didn’t give us that luxury,” Ryckman said.

Attorney General Derek Schmidt on Friday urged lawmakers to act quickly. He said each additional day without a plan further damages his office’s ability to prepare to defend whatever plan the Legislature eventually passes.

After the Supreme Court receives the Legislature’s plan, the court will hold oral arguments and eventually rule on whether the plan is constitutional.

Ahead of an expected school funding debate, senators first took up a bill that would potentially lower future revenue coming into the state. The bill would allow Kansans to itemize their taxes at the state level, even if they don’t itemize at the federal level. Right now, taxpayers must itemize at the federal level in order to itemize with the state.

The Senate abruptly ended debate on the bill early Saturday evening without voting on it, but it wasn't immediately clear what senators would take up next.

The bill would lower revenue coming into the state by several hundred million dollars over the next five years, according to the Kansas Department of Revenue. Reducing future revenue would make it more difficult for the state to pay for the school funding increase proposed in the House plan.

Democrats opposed the measure, including Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka. The tax bill would lover revenue by $494 million over five years, he said, which far outweighs a slimmed-down education plan the Senate passed just days ago.

"I think that we should be putting the children of Kansas basically first," Hensley said.

Conservatives in the Senate strongly pushed for the bill to pass, saying that a "windfall" of money to the state tied to the federal tax measures should be returned to Kansas taxpayers.

"This is how majority parties become minority parties," Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, said. "By not giving back an unexpected windfall, by spending more money than you have in the bank and then passing another tax increase so that you can pay for it."

If the bill passes the Senate, its fate in the House is unclear.

How they voted

Here’s how south-central Kansas and Kansas City-area lawmakers voted on a compromise school funding plan contained in Sub Sb 423. The bill passed the House 63-56.

South-central Kansas

Republicans voting yes: Leo Delperdang, Roger Elliott, Daniel Hawkins, Brenda Landwehr, Wichita; Steven Becker, Buhler; Mary Martha Good, El Dorado; Kyle Hoffman, Coldwater; Steve Huebert, Valley Center; Anita Judd-Jenkins, Arkansas City

Republicans voting no: Susan Humphries, Les Osterman, Chuck Weber, John Whitmer, Wichita; Emil Bergquist, Park City; Doug Blex, Independence; Jesse Burris, Mulvane; Blake Carpenter, Derby; Les Mason, McPherson; Joe Seiwert, Pretty Prairie; Jack Thimesch, Cunningham

Republicans absent: Don Schroeder, Hesston; Kristey Williams, Augusta

Democrocrats voting yes: Ed Trimmer, Winfield

Democrats voting no: Elizabeth Bishop, John Carmichael, Gail Finney, Henry Helgerson, K.C. Ohaebosim, Tom Sawyer, Ponka-We Victors, Jim Ward, Brandon Whipple, Wichita; Steven Crum, Haysville; Tim Hodge, North Newton; Jason Probst, Hutchinson

Kansas City area

Republicans voting yes: Shelee Brim, Shawnee; Stephanie Clayton, Overland Park; Tom Cox, Shawnee; Erin Davis, Olathe; Willie Dove, Bonner Springs; Linda Gallagher, Lenexa; Jan Kessinger, Overland Park; Joy Koesten, Leawood; Patty Markley, Overland Park; Abraham Rafie, Overland Park; Melissa Rooker, Fairway; Ron Ryckman, Olathe; Sean Tarwater, Stilwell

Republicans voting no: Keith Esau, Olathe; Randy Powell, Olathe; John Resman, Olathe; William Sutton, Gardner

Republicans absent: Scott Schwab, Olathe; Frank Trimboli, Olathe

Democrats voting yes: Cindy Holscher, Overland Park

Democrats voting no: Tom Burroughs, Kansas City, Kan.; Pam Curtis, Kansas City, Kan.; Broderick Henderson, Kansas City, Kan.; Nancy Lusk, Overland Park; Cindy Neighbor, Shawnee; Jarrod Ousley, Merriam; Brett Parker, Overland Park; Louis Ruiz, Kansas City, Kan.; Jerry Stogsdill, Prairie Village; Valdenia Winn, Kansas City, Kan.; Kathy Wolfe Moore, Kansas City, Kan.

Democrats absent:Stan Frownfelter, Kansas City, Kan.

This story was originally published April 7, 2018 at 9:53 AM with the headline "$500 million boost for Kansas schools hinges on Senate vote."