TOPEKA — Kansas legislators are tying a plan to increase income taxes to another measure that would increase spending on public schools.
Republican negotiators for the House and Senate agreed Sunday on a plan for raising more than $1 billion over two years by increasing income taxes. The negotiators agreed on another plan to phase in a $285 million school funding increase over two years.
GOP negotiators agreed to put both plans into a single bill. The House planned to vote on the package Sunday night. Democrats opposed the tactic.
GOP leaders believe the tax increase has a better chance of passing if it is tied to school funding.
Kansas faces budget shortfalls totaling $889 million through June 2019, and the state Supreme Court ruled in March that education funding is inadequate.
