Topeka ? Some State Board of Education members expressed misgivings Tuesday about Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ school-finance plan, even though it embraces the board’s own proposal for a $100-per-pupil spending increase.

The plan would raise aid to school districts by $304 million over the next three years through higher taxes on sales, property and personal income.

In August, the board proposed spending $58 million to raise state aid per pupil by $100 in the fiscal year that starts July 1.

Sebelius’ plan includes that provision as well as additional increases in the following two years that would add a total $250 to the current figure of $3,863.

Board member Sue Gamble, a Shawnee Republican, said Tuesday she wished other agencies also would benefit from the proposed tax increases so that they would be partners in advocating them.

“It leaves us hanging out there dangling in the wind,” Gamble said. “We’re the problem.”

Gamble and Board member Bruce Wyatt of Salina felt the governor should have attached the tax increase to other programs as well, including transportation, higher education or social services.

But member Connie Morris, a St. Francis Republican, did not like the idea of raising taxes.

“Raising taxes is not brave,” she said. “It’s cowardice.”

The governor’s plan, called “Education First,” also has new dollars for all-day kindergarten and for programs aimed at helping poor and minority students do better on standardized tests.

Sebelius’ proposal would provide an additional $137 million during the state’s 2005 fiscal year, which begins July 1, while the board’s plan called for an additional $105 million.

Board members also learned the details of the governor’s plan to change the way the state finances special education.

Traditionally, Kansas has funded special education separately, based on the excess cost of providing services. Those costs — currently about $250 million — are based on the number of teachers and paraprofessionals.

Sebelius wants to tie the dollars to students, putting the entire $250 million into the general aid formula, raising the per-pupil figure by $434. The effect would be to set the base aid figure at $4,397 per pupil for fiscal 2005, said Dale Dennis, deputy commissioner of education.

Dennis said the board had recommended changing special education funding on a limited basis to see the effects.