The Lawrence school board's reaction Tuesday to Gov. Bill Graves' school finance proposal ranged from exaltation to dejection.
"I'm thrilled that he's stepped up ... with a proposal that addresses the needs to a much greater extent than his initial budget," board member Sue Morgan said. "Clearly, it's going to take a tax increase to do it."
But board member Jack Davidson said the governor's plan to increase the state sales tax and gasoline tax to finance education was fundamentally flawed.
"The last thing we should do to fund education is raise the sales tax," Davidson said.
He said the regressive nature of the sales tax made it a bad choice. He also said the gasoline tax should be used exclusively to pay for highway improvements. Instead of those devices, Davidson urged the governor to look at raising income taxes, alcohol and cigarette taxes and using more lottery revenue to support public education in Kansas.
"I think, frankly, we're going to have to bite the bullet. We don't have enough general taxes," he said. "What we ought to do is increase the income tax at the higher end."
Lawrence Supt. Randy Weseman praised Graves' plan.
"I think it's an excellent proposal," he said. "It's pretty much the most comprehensive plan I've seen to date that I think is do-able. We'll have to see the public support they get."
He said the current legislative session could be the last chance for significant movement on school finance, given the sagging national economy and election of a new governor in fewer than two years.
"If it doesn't happen this year, it's not going to happen for years," Weseman said.
Austin Turney, the board's president, said Graves should be commended for proposing a $110 increase in base state aid for each student. He had proposed a $50 increase at the beginning of the 2001 session. The Lawrence district needs the additional funding to raise teacher salaries and reduce class sizes, Turney said.
Turney said increasing the sales tax would be unpopular, but "you've got to do something."
Board member Scott Morgan said he wasn't impressed the governor earmarked a portion of the $112 million raised by the tax increases to pay for all-day kindergarten programs and summer school.
"I would prefer the money was focused on the core issue: teachers and classrooms," he said. "We're not doing the basics yet to expand."
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