Some Republicans are frustrated that Gov. Kathleen Sebelius won’t advance two compacts with Indian tribes that many antigambling legislators would support in hopes of blocking broader proposals.

“If the governor were to move ahead, there definitely would be interest in those compacts,” House Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka, said Sunday. “It appears that the governor is the obstruction.”

Sunday was the fifth day of a special session Sebelius called to deal with a Kansas Supreme Court mandate to provide additional money to public schools. Legislators cannot act on the compacts until Sebelius submits them, and she has not.

One compact would permit the Kickapoo and Sac and Fox tribes to build a $210 million hotel-and-casino complex near the Kansas Speedway in Wyandotte County. It emerged from negotiations last year between the tribes and Sebelius’ office.

The second compact would allow those two tribes and the Prairie Band Potawatomi tribe to build a $200 million complex just south of Galena, near the Missouri border in Cherokee County. The tribes asked Sebelius last week to negotiate a deal with them, but talks have not begun.

Both compacts would guarantee the state a share of the casinos’ revenues – perhaps as much as $100 million annually.

In exchange, other new gambling would be limited to 600 slot machines at the Woodlands dog and horse racing park in Kansas City and another 600 at the now-closed Camptown Greyhound Park in Frontenac. The slots would generate additional revenues for the state.

The limits on slots appeal to legislators who worry they won’t be able to hold off an expansion of gambling indefinitely.

Gambling promoters have tried but repeatedly failed for more than a decade to win permission for casinos and slot machines at dog and horse tracks. The Senate on Friday rejected a bill, 22-17.

Sebelius views expanded gambling as the best way to provide revenues to sustain new spending on education in future years. After the gambling bill failed, committees in both houses began considering budget cuts.

During a Saturday news conference, Sebelius defended her actions and emphasized that work only on the Wyandotte County compact was completed.

“I haven’t had any discussions with the tribes on a new proposal, and I’ve made it pretty clear this week that the revenue from the old proposal really isn’t sufficient to meet our needs,” she said.

She also endorsed the bill rejected in the Senate, which authorized casinos in Wyandotte County and southeast Kansas and 5,500 slots total at five race tracks. That is too many new slot machines for antigambling senators to tolerate in a compromise.

“It’s unfortunate that the only gambling plan that has a reasonable chance of being passed by the Senate is not an option for the governor to pursue,” said Sen. Phil Journey, R-Haysville.

Asked whether the compacts could win approval, Mays said: “I believe there are the votes in both houses.”

One issue for legislators in adopting the compacts is that the U.S. Interior Department must sign off on the casino sites.

That normally could take a year, acknowledged Whitney Damron, a lobbyist for the Kickapoo and Sac and Fox tribes. But Damron said the time could be significantly shorter, based on the tribes’ conversations with Interior officials.