Topeka ? Republican school finance plans would break the budget and probably hurt the state’s credit rating because they lack new sources of revenue, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ top budget official said today.

“There has to be a revenue plan,” Budget Director Duane Goossen said in a briefing to House Democrats.

“New revenue” is usually Statehouse code for a tax increase, or in this legislative session, new state funding from proposed expansions in gambling.

A Senate Republican leadership plan would increase school funding by $415 million over three years, while a proposal by Sen. Nick Jordan, R-Shawnee, and Rep. Kenny Wilk, R-Lansing, would increase money to schools by $208 million over two years.

Another plan put together by House Republicans would increase school funding by $65 million.

The plans’ authors have said their proposals could initially be funded within existing revenue collections and projected growth in tax collections.

But in future years, there must be revenue above that amount, Goossen said.

He said commitments made by the Legislature to fund highways, the state pension system and growing health care costs for the elderly and indigent have eaten up any growth in tax collections.

By July 1, 2007, the Senate Republican plan would put the state budget $670 million in the hole, he said.
He added that without a plan to match spending and tax collections, the state’s credit rating could be jeopardized under the school finance proposals.

Lawmakers are wrangling over whether to increase taxes for schools in the face of a Kansas Supreme Court order to fix school finance by April 12.

Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, said Goossen’s briefing showed that, “If we don’t identify new sources of revenue, we are going to be deeper in the hole.”