Sixty-one candidates running for seats in the Kansas Legislature have signed a pledge that has education officials worried.

The pledge is to support putting on the ballot for voter consideration a proposal called the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

Known as TABOR, the bill would limit government spending to the rate of inflation plus population growth and prohibit tax increases unless approved by popular vote.

Anti-tax groups say the measure is needed to control government spending, help ease the tax burden on citizens and businesses and boost the state economy, which they say is lagging in job growth and personal income growth. They want the measure in the state constitution.

“TABOR is based on two fundamental principles,” said Alan Cobb, director of the Kansas chapter of Americans for Prosperity, in a letter to lawmakers. “First, the state government’s budget should not grow faster than the family budget. Second, decisions about new taxes and spending projects should be made by taxpayers.”

But education officials say TABOR could jeopardize funding and the quality of public schools and universities.

As society places more responsibilities on schools through legislation such as the No Child Left Behind law, education will need more money for new initiatives to fulfill that duty, said Mark Tallman, a spokesman for the Kansas Association of School Boards.

“What school districts have to do and pay for is going up at far more than the rate of inflation,” Tallman said. “If you are going to limit state funding to the rate of inflation, you will continue to force the cost burden to the local level, or force the school districts to make cuts and turn their attention away from what they are mandated to do.”

But Cobb said that while the proposed constitutional amendment would limit total state spending to the rate of inflation, it would allow lawmakers to increase funding in specific areas, such as education, to as much as they felt was needed.

Americans for Prosperity Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights More in Election 2004

Opponents, however, say that after several lean budget years, there is little room to shuffle funding in the state budget. Two-thirds of state spending goes to public schools and higher education. In addition, the Kansas Supreme Court is considering a lower court order that, if upheld, could require a $1 billion increase in school funding.

Higher education officials also see dark clouds behind TABOR, and the Kansas Board of Regents is analyzing the proposal.

“We know that in other states, the higher education communities have definitely opposed the taxpayer bill of rights,” said Kip Peterson, a spokesman for the regents. “We are concerned about what it has done to higher education in Colorado.”

Since a taxpayer bill of rights was adopted in 1992 in Colorado, state general fund allocations to universities there have decreased from 20 percent of the total school budgets to 10 percent, Peterson said.

But supporters of the Colorado TABOR say budget problems in the state are being caused by other spending initiatives, such as another constitutional amendment that requires increases in public school funding.

On the political level, support or opposition to TABOR is becoming an issue in many Kansas legislative races.

Locally, Rep. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin, opposes the measure, saying it would be irresponsible because it would “straitjacket” state government in the event of a crisis.

Voters elect representatives to make budget and tax decisions, and voters have the opportunity to support their representatives or vote them out of office, he said. Going back to the voters for every tax increase would be “passing the buck.”

Holland’s opponent, Rich Lorenzo, a Republican from Lawrence, has signed the pledge.

“I believe the Kansas taxpayer should have a voice on whether his or her taxes are increased,” he said.

Another selling point, Lorenzo said, is that under the proposal, revenue taken in by the state above the rate of inflation would be returned to the taxpayers in the form of a rebate.

Cobb said that if Kansas had TABOR in place since 1992, the state would have returned $1.1 billion to taxpayers.

Of the 61 candidates who have signed the pledge to TABOR, 44 are Republicans, two are Democrats, five are Reform Party, and 10 are Libertarian.

Also in Lawrence, Jim Mullins, the Reform Party candidate for the 2nd District Senate seat, signed the pledge, while incumbent Republican Mark Buhler and Democrat Marci Francisco didn’t.

A TABOR constitutional amendment would require a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate. It then would be placed on the ballot for Kansas voters to consider. Supporters made an initial run during the last legislative session, which fell short, but plan on trying again in 2005.