Topeka ? The state Senate today will consider education finance legislation in a debate that is sure to center on whether to increase taxes to help fund public schools and comply with a court opinion.

“This is the big day that people have been waiting for,” said Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, a Republican from Independence.

The Senate will vote on a package of bills in what will be the first chamberwide debate of school finance since the Kansas Supreme Court told lawmakers to fix the $2.7 billion funding system.

On Jan. 3, the state Supreme Court said the Legislature failed to provide suitable funding for schools, and gave lawmakers until April 12 to increase funding and distribute it more fairly among the state’s more than 300 school districts.

Before the Senate are bills that were approved by the Senate Education Committee, but they carry heavy opposition.

The committee plan would increase school funding by $455 million over three years. The first year would be financed through increased tax revenue and dipping into the state’s year-end balance. But the proposal has no revenue commitment in the second and third years.

“The bill coming up tomorrow has a lot of problems, not the least of which is it is not funded,” said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Democrat from Topeka.

Sen. Pete Brungardt, R-Salina, has said he would propose a tax increase to help fund the plan.

“We’re going to make some attempt to actually fund the bill,” Brungardt said.

He said he hadn’t worked out details of his amendment, but he said it would be an income tax surcharge. Several attempts to pass a tax surcharge last year for schools failed.

The education bills that are on the Senate’s schedule for debate today include:

SB 246, which would enact a $455 million, three-year plan;

SB 245, which would establish a team that would conduct school district audits;

SB 244, which would establish the 2010 Commission to monitor school finance legislation;

SB 139, which would establish the Kansas Academy of Math and Sciences to provide free college tuition at a regents institution for high-school age pupils who are academically talented in math and science;

SB 138, which would establish a state corporate tax credit for companies that employ math or science teachers during times where school is not in session;

HB 2059, which would establish a second date for enrollment count on Feb. 20 for districts affected by the deployment of troops.