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Lawmakers Return With New Info On School Funding, Budget Deficit

Stephen Koranda
/
Kansas Public Radio/File photo

Kansas lawmakers return to Topeka Monday after a week-long break. As Stephen Koranda reports, they’ll get back to work with some new information about the challenges they face.

Lawmakers need to continue work writing a new school funding formula for Kansas. That’s the single largest item in the budget and a daunting task.

They now have even more to take into consideration after the Kansas Supreme Court said during the break that the state hasn’t been adequately funding schools. That could require hundreds of millions of dollars in additional spending.

Legislators will also be continuing work on a tax bill after the governor vetoed a tax increase.

They did get some good news while they were gone: The budget deficit they’re facing is now slightly smaller after revenues came in ahead of projections last month.

Stephen Koranda is the managing editor of the Kansas News Service, based at KCUR. He has nearly 20 years of experience in public media as a reporter and editor.