Topeka ? By the end of the month, a task force appointed by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius will recommend that she fully fund the state’s school finance formula, a proposal that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Sylvia Robinson, Sebelius’ director of education policy, said funding the formula “ranked high up there among those who participated” in the task force meetings and public hearings that took place across the state.

“Providing sufficient resources was real important across all sites,” Robinson said.

Fully funding the formula, Robinson said, means increasing the base state aid per pupil to match the rate of inflation since 1992 when the school finance formula was created. So far, that hasn’t happened.

Currently, the base state aid per pupil is $3,863, up from $3,600 per pupil in 1992.

If the Legislature had been funding schools to match increases in the cost of living, the current state aid per pupil would be $4,589, according to the Kansas Department of Education. Getting to that level would cost the state an extra $417.8 million in the coming fiscal year. Given the state’s tight revenue situation, that would probably require a tax increase.

Education funding, at about $2.6 billion per year, already makes up more than half the state budget.

“The charge of the task force was to provide some recommendations to the governor, and then the governor will decide which ones she thinks she can take on during her administration,” Robinson said.

Sebelius has indicated she might consider a tax increase for education, but has said nothing firm on this point, instead indicating she will announce her proposals for public schools when the 2004 legislative session starts in January.

Morris Reeves of Dodge City, who led the task force subcommittee that dealt with school funding issues, said there also were ways school funding could be spent more efficiently.

“The emphasis on early childhood education is definitely the best bang for the buck,” he said.

Reeves said the funding formula also should be changed to provide incentives for some school districts to consolidate, which he said would produce savings in the future that could be plowed back into the classroom.

Reeves said he thought Sebelius would focus on early childhood education “and any available monies would probably go in that direction. As far as taxes are concerned, who knows.”