Topeka ? Education advocates can “seal the deal” by pressuring legislators for increased funding during the wrap-up session, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said during an education rally Wednesday at the Capitol.

“Be visible and be vocal,” she said. “I want you to keep it up. They need to hear you upstairs.”

Barb Thompson, a teacher at Quail Run School in Lawrence, applauds a comment made by Sen. Christine Downey, D-Inman, during an education rally at the Capitol. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius on Wednesday urged those attending the rally to put pressure on their lawmakers to pass a school funding measure.

“Upstairs” was the House and Senate chambers, where legislators reconvened Wednesday to tackle several unresolved issues for the session, including education funding.

The House approved several education spending bills, the most recent of which would raise $155 million for schools by raising property and sales taxes. The Senate has defeated six education spending measures.

Several hundred advocates, many tied to the Johnson County-based Kansas Families United for Public Education, gathered for a lunchtime rally in the first-floor rotunda. Many said they supported the $155 million plan, which was crafted by Rep. Bill Kassebaum, R-Burdick.

“We desperately need more funding from the state,” said Nancy Dietze, a sixth-grade teacher at Quail Run School in Lawrence. “The Legislature is back. Their big task is to come up with a way to appropriately fund education in Kansas. It’s important to make a statement to people on both sides of the aisle.”

Several dozen children were at the event, many of them carrying empty bowls to symbolize the empty coffers of public education. But Sen. Christine Downey, D-Inman, urged the students to put the bowls on their heads to symbolize hard hats.

“A lot of hard heads are being covered with hard hats on this issue,” she said.

Cindy Yulich, a Lawrence school board member, was among the rally attendees.

“It’s good to hear the enthusiasm,” she said. “It’s good for it to happen right here where (legislators) can hear it.”

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