Topeka ? Senate budget writers today approved a $1.7 billion budget for Kansas higher education, but not before one senator warned that the funding level would lead to a tax increase.

The proposal adopted by the Senate Ways and Means Committee includes about $700 million in general tax funds, which is about a four percent increase in spending.

“This guarantees a tax increase,” Sen. Henry Helgerson, a Wichita Democrat, said in voting against the proposal.

For the fiscal year that starts July 1, Kansas University would receive $450 million from all funds, while the KU Medical Center would get $240 million.