So far, most lawmakers have been cool to the idea. But the Kansas Board of Regents is going forward with a plan to provide tax credits for donations to higher education.

“We will continue to ask the Legislature for tax credits,” Dick Carter, a spokesman for the regents, said Monday.

The regents recently approved forming the Kansas Regents Foundation, a nonprofit corporation. Members have said they wanted to establish a foundation for public institutions of higher education to fund special projects as they came up rather than waiting to get a state appropriation from the Legislature.

Regents members have said the funds would go toward technology improvements, increasing student financial aid and collaborative efforts between schools.

During the last legislative session, a bill was introduced that would have authorized state tax credits equal to two-thirds the amount donated to the foundation.

The measure also would have reduced state appropriations to the regents by the amount of credit claimed for the prior tax year.

But that would have cost the state several million dollars in the upcoming fiscal year, although supporters of the bill said that cost would have been made up later by lowering the state appropriation to the regents.

The measure was killed after several House members voiced concern about the bill’s impact in the next fiscal year.

A similar bill met the same fate in the 2001 legislative session because of budget concerns.

But supporters maintain it’s a money-maker and sound public policy.

“It allows you to generate money to be more innovative,” and get funds to schools during tight budget years, Carter said.