TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican legislators in Kansas have advanced two rival plans that increase funding for public schools in hopes of satisfying a state Supreme Court mandate.
The House approved a bill Tuesday that would phase in a roughly $520 million increase in education funding over five years. The 71-53 vote sent it to the Senate.
But a special GOP-controlled Senate committee on school finance approved its own bill Tuesday. It would phase in an increase of $274 million over five years while targeting much of the new money to early childhood education. A Senate debate is next.
Many Democrats question whether either plan would satisfy the Supreme Court.
The court ruled in October that the state’s current spending of more than $4 billion a year is not sufficient under the state constitution.