Topeka ? A Senate committee approved a $158 per-pupil cut in state aid to public schools Wednesday, with some members saying it would be irresponsible to do otherwise  for now.

“It’s the fervent hope for me and, I think, most everyone that this is not the final result for education,” Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, said after the vote.

Most of the committee’s Republican members, led by Senate President Dave Kerr, said it would be unwise to draft a proposed budget for the Department of Education that assumed any new revenues for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

With the state facing a projected revenue shortfall of at least $426 million, Gov. Bill Graves included the $158 per-pupil cut in the balanced budget he submitted in January.

But he also proposed $228 million in tax increases to avoid the cut, and some legislators have also been talking about ways to bring in fresh revenue for the state.

Neither chamber has voted on any tax plan, however, and members of the Ways and Means Committee did not want to guess at how big any tax increase might be.

Under the committee’s plan, the Department of Education would receive about $2.2 billion in fiscal 2003, down about $130 million or 5.6 percent from this year’s state appropriation.

For the 304 school districts, aid per pupil would drop to $3,712 from its current $3,870.

The proposal now becomes part of a proposed state budget the Senate expects to debate in March.

Democrats argued Wednesday that the committee should approve an adequate budget, then fight for extra money.

“We should never let process and procedure dictate policy,” said Sen. Jim Barone, D-Frontenac.

Watching the committee were education officials, including the superintendent and three school board members from Lane County’s Dighton district. They worried that a reduction in state aid would force them to cut staff or programs.

“We had problems, so we came up here to see if we could do something about them,” Dighton board member Al Cook told Kerr after the meeting. “We’re not sure you’re not adding to them.”

Kerr, R-Hutchinson, said the committee’s endorsement came so early in the legislative session that it was not significant. But he also said members have been considering cuts for many agencies.

“We’re probably going to be adding to a lot of people’s problems,” Kerr told the Dighton officials.

Although the endorsement came on a voice vote, four of the 11 committee members asked to be recorded as voting “no”: Barone and fellow Democrats Christine Downey, of Newton, and Paul Feleciano, of Wichita, amd Republican David Adkins of Leawood.

Some other Republican committee members were unhappy.

Sen. Jean Schodorf, R-Wichita, a former Wichita school board member, said the committee’s proposed budget for the Department of Education shows how serious the state’s budget problems are.

But Sen. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler, who opposes tax increases, said the committee should look for savings in other agencies’ budgets, to free up money for education.

“We’re a long ways from the end,” he said.