The spotlight is starting to fall on the next generation of an old Kansas political family.

In just his second year in the Kansas Legislature, Rep. Bill Kassebaum, R-Burdick, is showing signs that he’s inherited some of his family’s political acumen.

On Friday, the Kansas House approved a $155 million public school funding plan drafted by Kassebaum. The package provides three times more funding than the plan proposed by GOP House leadership and approved by the House on Thursday. And it calls for tax increases, which the House leadership has been dead-set against.

If you hear a chuckle from heaven, it might be Kassebaum’s late grandfather, former Gov. Alf Landon. The bipartisan coalition Kassebaum built in support of his measure also is sure to draw a smile from his mother, former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker.

Bill Kassebaum’s plan would add $100 per pupil to base state aid and increase funding to help districts serve bilingual, poor and minority students. It also would fund 100 percent of districts’ special education costs not covered by federal funding. The funding for the bill will come from raising the state sales tax by 0.2 of a percentage point to 5.5 percent and adding a 4.5 percent surcharge on individual income taxes.

Key support for the bill came from Johnson County legislators after language was added to allow local school boards to increase property taxes by up to $120 million with voter approval. The art of political compromise to serve a greater end apparently also runs in the family.

Kassebaum was part of a group of freshman legislators who made a last-minute attempt to increase school funding at the end of the 2003 session. This year, Kassebaum clearly is taking a leading role in the effort to find common ground on a proposal to increase school funding and help address the concerns of a Shawnee County judge who has declared the state’s school-finance formula unconstitutional.

Although the governor appears pleased with the bill, which she called “very significant,” the measure still faces opposition. It will be a challenge for a second-session legislator to shepherd it through to final passage.

But, considering Kassebaum’s genetic heritage and the political savvy he’s already displayed, it would be hard to bet against him.

It also might not be too soon to start laying odds on the possibility the Landon family may produce another governor or senator in the not-to-distant future.