Overland Park ? Democrat Chris Biggs and Republican Phill Kline on Tuesday differed sharply on the issue of public school funding during a debate in their race for Kansas attorney general.

Biggs, the 14-year Geary County prosecutor, and Kline, a former state legislator from Shawnee, faced off before about 100 people from various Johnson County chambers of commerce.

Later the two were quizzed by a panel of lawyers at Washburn University Law School in Topeka during a debate before about 200 people.

The election is Nov. 5.

In response to a question at the Overland Park event, Kline said if elected attorney general he would defend in court local jurisdictions that raise taxes to increase aid to their local schools, such as what Johnson County recently approved.

“I will stand up and defend local control,” Kline said, especially in the case of the one-quarter cent sales tax increase for schools that was approved by Johnson County voters in August.

The measure is being challenged in court. Critics say the state should be responsible for funding public schools and allowing local districts to raise taxes will lead to an unequal school system where students in wealthy areas will have an unfair advantage over children in poorer areas.

Biggs applauded the voters of Johnson County for wanting to improve their schools, but he said it was the Legislature’s duty under the Kansas Constitution to properly fund public schools.

“As attorney general, I would carefully review the law and make a decision based on the constitution,” he said.

But Kline argued that it was a cop-out for a candidates to not state clearly whether they would defend the one-quarter cent sales tax hike. “To avoid those questions is political posturing. Not leadership,” he said.

Biggs, however, said Kline, while a state legislator, had hurt public school funding with “atrocious votes on education. He is trying to be captain of a ship he has been trying to sink,” Biggs said.

Kline countered that when he was chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, schools received a $50 increase in per pupil spending, the largest increase since the school finance formula was overhauled.

Kathy Cook, one of the leaders of the Johnson County-based Kansas Families United for Public Education, was at the debate. The group has endorsed Biggs.

Cook said Kline’s main emphasis during his eight years in the Legislature was trying to cut taxes, a strategy that has left schools starving for funds. “He advocated tax cut after tax cut after tax cut. He wanted to bankrupt public schools,” she said.

The two candidates agreed that Kansas’ criminal laws need to be reformed so that violent criminals spend more time in prison. Biggs said his experience as a prosecutor made him the best qualified to accomplish that job, while Kline said his tenure in the Legislature made him the most qualified.

At the evening debate in Topeka, the two candidates were asked if they would try to legally constrain anti-abortion protesters if those protesters were blocking access to an abortion clinic.

Biggs, who has said he would defend a woman’s right to an abortion, said he would try to balance the rights of picketers to free speech and the rights of women to privacy in meeting with their doctors. If anti-abortion protesters blocked a woman, he said, “I would be interested in taking legal action.”

Kline, who is opposed to abortion, said, “I will enforce the law and make sure the law is complied with.” Kline went on to say that laws restricting late-term abortions were being broken.