Kansas Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer wants lawmakers to fix a costly mistake in the school finance bill passed after midnight on the last day of the regular session.
It needs to be taken care of, Colyer said Wednesday. Well work with the Legislature on doing that.
The error a byproduct of confusion and deal-making in the sessions final hours early Sunday morning makes re-engineering the states school finance formula more difficult than usual.
Facing a hard April 30 deadline for getting a new plan to the Kansas Supreme Court, legislative leaders left the heavy lifting on the issue to the final days of the regular session. That allowed little time to negotiate substantial differences between a House bill that called for an additional $534 million in funding and a Senate bill that proposed about half that amount.
With the clock ticking toward an adjournment, legislative leaders decided to go with the House bill. That forced a final-day showdown between lawmakers insisting it was more than the state could afford and those contending it was the least the state could spend and hope to satisfy the court.
In the end, the bill got just enough votes to pass both chambers. But frantic last-minute deal making led to a drafting error that reduced its funding by $80 million.
The mistake came in language added to the measure by Rep. Clay Aurand, a Belleville Republican, to allow local property taxes in the calculation of state aid.
Rep. Melissa Rooker, a Fairway Republican who helped write the House bill, said she didnt spot the error until just before the House vote. By then, she said, it was too late to do anything without endangering the fragile coalition pushing for passage.
I was told to relax, Rooker said. It would get fixed later.
Apparently, later means when lawmakers return April 26 for a wrap-up session scheduled to last only eight days.
The short timeframe and the politics dividing lawmakers on the issue could make fixing the funding bill difficult, Rooker said.
The logistics of getting to a vote on the floor for that will be tricky, she said. The timing is rough in terms of the April 30 deadline. But I dont think theres any question that we need to do it.
Still, lawmakers opposed to the size of the funding increase see the mistake as an opportunity to continue to press their case.
Gives us another chance to kill the bill, Rep. John Whitmer, a Wichita Republican, said in a tweet.
Meantime, lobbyists and lawyers representing school boards and teacher groups contend the bill, even in its original form, didnt increase funding enough to satisfy the court.
