Gov. Bill Graves' new school finance plan would increase state funding to the Lawrence district by $1.7 million over his original budget, school officials said Thursday.
"It's a substantial coup here," said Kathy Johnson, the district's director of finance.
Originally, Graves asked the Kansas Legislature to increase base state spending on public education by $50 per pupil. That would have provided the Lawrence district with $700,000 in additional funding.
His revised proposal would hike spending $110 per student, or $2.4 million more that the current appropriation.
While some legislators attacked Graves' plan to raise sales and gas taxes to generate $112 million for Kansas public schools, Lawrence school administrators welcomed a plan providing a significant budget relief.
"Clearly the heavens start to part a little here and we see a little sunshine when you look at the difference," Supt. Randy Weseman said.
He said the district would be pinched by a mere $50 increase in base aid. The district has pending program requests and teacher salary obligations that would exceed the state's increase in appropriations, he said.
"Certainly, with the $50 ... in order to do things, we're going to have to look at cuts somewhere else," he said.
Funding in the governor's plan also would provide districts with funding for special education, at-risk students, teacher salaries, summer school and all-day kindergarten.
Weseman, who was briefed on the governor's plan a day before it was presented to the public Tuesday, said he anticipated House members would pose the strongest opposition.
"I think we'll hear pretty quickly it's jelling in the Senate, but not in the House," he said.
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