Topeka — Gov. Bill Graves was recently playing with his 5-year-old daughter Katie in the front yard of their Mission Hills home when a neighbor came by and started a conversation.
Looking kind of sheepish, the neighbor said he had been elected by neighborhood residents to deliver a letter to Graves.
The letter, the governor said, politely told him to step up for public schools and demonstrate some leadership.
Graves said he told his neighbor: "Well, stay tuned next Tuesday. We're going to show a little leadership."
Graves, possibly one of the most popular governors in Kansas history, often is criticized for not spending some of that political capital to resolve some thorny issues.
The start of the 2001 legislative session was a case in point.
Graves, in the middle of his second term, had primed the pump with talk that this session would be one in which schools would get significant increases and officials would work on inequities in the school-funding formula.
But when the session opened, Graves simply asked lawmakers to find more funds for schools, including a tax increase. The Legislature didn't bite, and education fell from the legislative agenda.
Under fire from many lawmakers for being among the missing-in-action on education, Graves on Tuesday thrust the issue to the top of the agenda, and himself in the middle of it. He unveiled a plan that calls for an increase in the state sales tax and fuels tax to raise money that would go toward education.
The Legislature, which started work Jan. 8, will continue through April 7, take a break, and then resume for a few days in late April. "I suppose it's better late than never," said Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka.
Graves' proposed tax hikes also were kicked down by many of his fellow Republicans. Rep. Ralph Tanner, R-Baldwin and chairman of the House Education Committee, said the proposal was coming too late in the session. He initially said he would not conduct hearings on it. But House Speaker Kent Glasscock, R-Manhattan, said that if Graves wants a hearing, he will get it.
Graves said he expected many would hammer his proposal. But he will meet with key lawmakers in the next few days, and then take his message on the road to generate support among Kansans.
One of those is Judi Reilly of Overland Park, who helped start a grass-roots group to urge Graves and legislators to consider a tax increase for education. "He's taking a bold step," Reilly said after hearing of Graves' proposal. "I think he's probably hearing what our group has found out, there's a lot more support for a tax increase for education than many may think."
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