Topeka ? The Kansas Senate on Friday adopted a $72 million funding increase for public schools that would be paid for by delaying a payment to the state employees’ retirement system and using some of the state’s cash reserves.

The proposal was adopted 23-16 with only Republicans in support.

Senate President Dave Kerr, R-Hutchinson, voted for the measure saying, “while not pretty, it’s something that we can live with.”

But Democrats criticized the method of funding.

“The latest proposal is both inefficient and irresponsible,” Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said. “To date, the Senate position on school finance has been zero. Incredibly, this proposal brings it to less than zero.

“The combination of delaying retirement payments that must be made and reducing the ending balance could push the budget into negative territory,” she said.

If put into law, the measure would reduce the state’s ending fund balance by $32 million, from $115 million to $83 million. In flush times, the state has operated with balances of more than $500 million.

And the proposal would delay the fourth-quarter payment to the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System — a $40 million transaction that would have to be paid back with interest.

State Sen. Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, called the maneuvers “fiscal insanity.”

But Kerr said the no-new-tax proposal was the only one that could get a majority in the Senate, and he blamed Sebelius’ budget work for forcing lawmakers to borrow and reduce balances to pay for a school increase.

“We have all these entrenched positions, and haven’t been able to pull people together,” he said.

Under the proposal, base state aid would increase $27 per pupil, from $3,863 per student to $3,890 per student. Another $60 would be provided for each student, but it wouldn’t be added to the base state aid.

The proposal also would increase funding for programs that assist students who are failing and students who don’t speak English.

For the Lawrence school district, it would increase state funding by about $1.3 million.

State Sen. Mark Buhler, R-Lawrence, who has supported tax increases for schools during the session, was present during debate but didn’t vote on the measure.

“My heart said no, but my head said we have to get something to conference committee,” he said. “This is pretty ugly, but it’s still $70 million for education.”

The House has approved a $155 million tax increase for schools, and a $28 million plan that would require no statewide tax increase but would allow 16 districts, including Lawrence, to raise local taxes.

Now, House and Senate negotiators will work on differences among the various school-funding plans, which have been the biggest challenge of this legislative session.