Topeka ? If the Kansas House were a student, it would have received an “F” in math Tuesday.

The House, in an open display of gamesmanship and political posturing, voted to increase school funding by $137 million but rejected the taxes needed to fund the increase.

Instead, the House raced the other way on taxes, voting to cut state income taxes for married couples by $150 million.

The action came during debate on a routine property tax bill as lawmakers rushed to add amendments dealing with taxes and school finance.

House Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka, said despite the “hodgepodge” of voting, he thought legislators were starting to get serious about Kansas’ school finance system, which was declared unconstitutional by a state district court judge.

But seriousness was difficult to detect when legislators made bomb-dropping sounds as amendments were being defeated. They also joked that after adding numerous amendments, the bill was beginning to resemble a Christmas tree heavy with ornaments.

Rep. Steve Huebert, R-Valley Center, had had enough and asked his colleagues to “kill this very dysfunctional bill.”

Instead, the House advanced it, 73-49, to final action today.

The House:

• Approved 106-15 raising the standard state tax deduction for married couples from $6,000 to $20,000 — a $150 million tax break. Republicans had been anxious to offer this amendment after they said Democrats last week tried to score political points by offering the same amendment on a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. It was defeated last week.
• Rejected 71-44 Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ three-year plan to increase state sales, income and property taxes to raise $304 million for public schools.

House advances schools bill without funding method

• Rejected 67-45 a one-year version of Sebelius’ tax plan to increase the state sales tax by one-tenth of a cent and impose a state income tax surcharge of 5 percent for a total increase of $135 million.
• Approved 63-56 increasing school funding $135 million in accordance with the first year of the Sebelius plan with an additional provision that would allow local school districts to raise more money for schools from local property taxes.
• Approved on a voice vote an amendment that would guarantee the minimum starting salary for a public school teacher would be $30,000 per year.

The House action Tuesday “really doesn’t have a great deal of meaning,” Mays said, except that it shows lawmakers are interested in granting local control for raising additional funds for schools.

“The debate really begins this week,” he said.

“Some of the votes were more political than substantive,” House Democratic Leader Dennis McKinney of Greensburg said, but the underlying message was that a majority of House members want an increase in school finance.

Among Lawrence legislators, Reps. Barbara Ballard and Paul Davis, both Democrats, voted for Sebelius’ three-year education plan, the one-year proposal and the taxes to back up the one-year plan. But Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence, voted against Sebelius’ three-year plan, he didn’t vote on the one-year tax proposal, and he voted for the one-year spending plan.

He said he opposed Sebelius’ three-year plan because it included a two-mill increase in property taxes. A mill is a tax of $1 per $1,000 assessed valuation.

Sloan said most of the House action on school finance Tuesday was inconsequential.

“I want to keep all options moving forward,” he said.