Tax cuts during the 1990s are responsible for the school-funding crisis the state is facing this legislative session, the Kansas deputy commissioner of education said during a discussion Tuesday in Lawrence.

The state would have collected more than $920 million this year if tax rates were at the same level as they were in 1995.

“Right or wrong, whether you agree or disagree with tax cuts, that’s what we would have received if we’d just left it alone,” Dale Dennis said.

Dennis and Randy Weseman, superintendent of Law-rence schools, spoke as part of the Talk of the Town forum sponsored by the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce. The event was at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vt.

The title of the forum was “School Funding 101,” but Dennis said an alternate title could be “How We Got Into This Mess.” A federal judge has ruled the state’s school-finance formula is underfunded and unconstitutional, and the Legislature has deadlocked on a school-funding bill this session. Legislators will take up the issue again during a wrap-up session beginning April 28.

Dennis said if the Legislature had kept up with the consumer price index for its base state aid per pupil since 1993, the amount would be $841 higher per pupil than the current $3,863.

Explaining the funding issue is difficult to parents who simply want to preserve programs.

“These people who go to a board meeting don’t know about these numbers, and they don’t care about these numbers,” Weseman said. “All they care about are the programs that affect their kids.”

Rep. Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, attended the event. He said he didn’t hold out much hope the Legislature would make dramatic increases to school funding.

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“There has been a very anti-tax movement that has swept the state the last 10 years,” he said. “As I look forward, I don’t look forward with a great deal of optimism. I think the anti-tax trend is going to continue.”