Not so fast.

The Lawrence Chamber of Commerce’s support for a tax increase to better fund public schools isn’t quite as solid as it seemed earlier this week.

Chamber leaders Friday sent an e-mail message to the business group’s 1,650 members clarifying its legislative platform presented Tuesday to area lawmakers.

Larry McElwain, chairman of the chamber’s board of directors, said many members had incorrectly interpreted that the chamber would begin the legislative session, which starts Monday, by pushing for a tax increase to fund education.

“I think there was concern out there that we hadn’t had adequate discussion to take that position,” McElwain said. “And they’re right. That’s why that’s not our position.”

Instead, Lavern Squier, president and chief executive of the chamber, said the group’s only official position was that legislators should focus on the current school finance formula and then, if needed, address any funding inequities.

“We do not frivolously support tax increases,” Squier said.

But information distributed at Tuesday’s legislative priorities breakfast at the Eldridge Hotel included a statement from the chamber that the organization “would be supportive of state efforts to create new or increase current revenue sources for purposes of funding education at a competent level.”

The handout also included information about how 52 percent of the respondents to a chamber survey indicated support for raising taxes, and that the two most palatable increases would be in the state sales tax or in targeted taxes such as cigarette, fuel or liquor taxes.

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McElwain said that portion of the handout “could have been worded better” to make it clearer the chamber board hadn’t “taken a black-and-white position” on the tax issue.

Squier said the chamber instead would withhold judgment on the merits of a tax increase until a specific plan worked its way to the Legislature.

“Our official position will come out when there is something official to talk about,” he said.

But Squier said the survey results left the door open for the chamber to support a tax increase if it was structured properly and lawmakers had exhausted other options.

That willingness puts the Lawrence chamber out of step with the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The statewide business group has made lowering the cost of business in Kansas its top priority. Its legislative platform includes increasing the number of sales tax exemptions, and it said the state’s tax policy for the session should be to “do no more harm” to the state’s business climate.

McElwain said he didn’t think the difference represented a split between the two organizations.

“I think it is healthy,” McElwain said. “The fact that we surveyed our own members is better than calling Topeka and asking what we should be supporting over here.”

McElwain said the chamber had heard concerns from members about its tax position after Tuesday’s meeting. He insisted the chamber wasn’t backpedaling but was simply better communicating its original message.

“I think there were people who just didn’t understand our position,” McElwain said. “What we’re really saying is that we think the financing formula needs to be looked at now. They shouldn’t wait until next year.”