TOPEKA ? Gov . Kathleen Sebelius on Monday said she would call lawmakers back into a special legislative session June 22 to increase school funding to comply with a Kansas Supreme Court order.

Sebelius and legislative leaders said all options – taxes, gambling, budget cuts and dipping into cash reserves – would be considered to come up with $285 million for schools by the court-imposed July 1 deadline.

“What we have is a directive and a timetable, and the future of our children’s education is on the table,” Sebelius said after a private meeting with top lawmakers and state attorneys.

“I can’t imagine a more important job to do than making sure that we have great schools in every community and good education for all of our kids,” she said.

It will be the first special session in Kansas since 1989 and only the 20th in state history.

Special sessions have been mostly reserved for emergencies, such as the first one in 1874 that was held after a swarm of grasshoppers ravaged crops across the state.

This one will be called to address the state Supreme Court decision that affects Kansas’ $2.8 billion system of financing the education of about 450,000 students in public schools.

Kansas House Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka, is interviewed by reporters after leaving a meeting of legislative leaders Monday in the office of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius at the Statehouse in Topeka. Sebelius and legislative leaders announced that there would be a special legislative session starting June 22 in an attempt to find an additional funding for Kansas public schools.

Last week, the court ordered the Legislature to increase school funding by $285 million by July 1, which is less than four weeks away and nine days after the start of the special session.

The court said a Republican plan approved during the regular legislative session, which would have increased school funding by $142 million, was too little, and that the proposal to allow local districts to raise local taxes was unfair to poor school districts.

Closed-door meeting

On Monday, Sebelius, a Democrat, met behind closed doors with Senate President Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, House Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka, and Democratic legislative leaders Rep. Dennis McKinney of Greensburg and Sen. Anthony Hensley of Topeka.

“We realize we have to meet the court’s mandate,” Morris said in a news conference after nearly the 90-minute meeting.

Morris said some Senate committees would meet before the start of the special legislative session to try to develop a consensus on how to raise the funds to meet the court requirement.

He said expanded gambling, budget cuts and possibly new taxes must be considered. “This is going to be a difficult process,” he said.

Earlier, Sebelius said, “We have to look at every range of options.”

Mays had left the meeting earlier because of a previous commitment. He didn’t sound optimistic about the process.

“I have no idea where this is going,” he said. He said calling back members to Topeka was a “major ordeal” for some legislators.

Unlike the Senate, he said, the House will not have committee meetings before the start of the session, saying that for a consensus to build all the members have to be present.

And, he said, Sebelius needs to propose a plan.

He also said that he would urge lawmakers to confine their work to school finance, but added, “When you bring the Legislature into this building, and there is not a lot to do, mischief occurs.”

Sebelius said leaders needed to work on a bipartisan plan.

“It’s clear that partisan plans don’t work, haven’t worked,” she said.

New revenue?

Sebelius and legislative leaders said they would request a meeting of budgetary experts to produce a new revenue estimate.

Given an unexpected surge of tax revenue in May – which totaled $100 million more than previous estimates – there is the possibility that the Legislature could meet the court order through a combination of higher-than-expected tax collections and dipping into cash reserves.

But long-term that would put the state into a cash crunch next year, and the court has indicated that it may impose another $568 million increase for schools in 2006.

State Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, a member of the House budget-writing committee, said the Legislature needed to identify new sources of revenue, such as a tax increase or expanded gambling, because the state budget is extremely tight.

“It would not serve any real purpose to take monies from other areas of the budget that so desperately need their money,” Ballard said.

“You can’t cut it, to raise that kind of money.”

Grumbling continues

Meanwhile, some Republicans continued to say that the court, in its unanimous decision, overstepped its authority in ordering the legislative branch to increase funding for schools.

The conservative Kansas Republican Assembly issued a statement, blasting the court.

“Who do these judges think they are?” asked Tamara Cooper, executive director of the KRA. “This is purely and simply a brazen power grab by unelected and unaccountable judges and it must not stand,” she said.

But Sebelius dismissed talk of whether the court has the authority to rule on the issue. “I think they need to read their constitution,” she said of the court’s critics.