TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas lawmakers are taking up a new education funding proposal that’s designed to help poor school districts without increasing the state’s total spending significantly.
The Senate Ways and Means Committee and the House Appropriations Committee were having separate hearings Wednesday on the plan.
It was drafted by the two committee chairmen. They are Republican Sen. Ty Masterson of Andover and GOP Rep. Ron Ryckman Jr. of Olathe.
The plan redistributes $83 million of the state’s $4 billion-plus a year in aid to its 286 school districts.
It increases the state’s overall spending by a few million dollars to ensure that no districts lose aid. Previous plans cut aid to dozens of districts.
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled last month that the state has shorted its poor districts on their aid.
