Topeka ? House Republicans on Tuesday proposed a $92 million school finance package, funded through increases in local property taxes and savings in the state budget.

The plan would allow districts to increase funding for programs for disadvantaged students, bilingual programs and create a cost-of-living adjustment to help districts pay competitive salaries in areas with extraordinary costs.

Details of the plan were announced by House Republicans during morning news conference in the Statehouse. As promised by Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka, the plan lacks a statewide tax increase, an effort Republicans said protects schools and families.

“We’re going to let local funds address some of the local needs,” said House Majority Leader Clay Aurand, R-Courtland.

Special education funding would potentially increase $40.5 million by giving local school boards the authority to eliminate the homestead exemption to the statewide school mill levy. Currently, the first $20,000 of the assessed valuation of residential property is exempt from the state’s 20-mill levy for schools.

A mill is $1 in taxation for every $1,000 in assessed property value. The current tax for schools on a $100,000 home is $184 annually; the GOP plan would permit school districts to increase that tax to $230, an increase of $46 a year.

Republicans said this provision will help districts close the gap between what the federal government has promised to fund for special education and those local and state funds that have been diverted from general education.

House Republicans also said their proposal would increase spending on teacher mentoring, bilingual education and programs for children who are at risk of dropping out by about $28.5 million.

Also, the state would provide 16 school districts with extra money because the cost of living in them is higher than in other parts of the state.

Mays said those initiatives would be funded with savings found elsewhere in the state’s $10.2 billion budget. He said those savings would be identified later, when the House debates the budget.

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Under the GOP proposal, the burden for raising extra money for special education programs would fall squarely on the owners of homes and other residential properties. Businesses would not see their taxes increase, something GOP leaders said was deliberate.

“We want Kansas to continue to be competitive,” Aurand said.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius was reviewing the proposal and unavailable for comment.

Sebelius’ own three-year, $304 million package has been rejected by the House and Senate, as has a scaled-down version, worth $137 million for one year.

Senate Republicans are expected to have their own plan later in the week.

On the Net:

Kansas Legislature: http://www.kslegislature.org

Governor’s Office: http://www.ksgovernor.org