Topeka ? A bill to increase spending on public schools by $145 million using existing state revenues won Senate approval Thursday, and the House advanced its own, smaller proposal.

The Senate’s vote was 29-10 and sent that measure to the House.

Meanwhile, on a voice vote, the House gave first-round approval to a $113 million plan. A final vote is scheduled for today.

Both measures increase spending on special education, bilingual education and programs for at-risk children, all concerns cited by the state Supreme Court in a January ruling. Both plans also increase general aid to all school districts, though in differing amounts.

The final version of an education funding bill will be written by negotiators from both chambers.

“We’re moving,” said Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence. “They’re in the same ballpark, and I’m confident we’ll be able to reach agreement.”

The Supreme Court gave legislators until April 12 to boost state aid to schools beyond the current $2.7 billion provided and to distribute the dollars more fairly. Action in both chambers came on the 53rd day of the Legislature’s 90-day session.

Under both plans, the state would use existing tax revenues and tap its cash reserves to provide the extra dollars during the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Republican leaders have sought to avoid having the state increase taxes, but some GOP lawmakers and Democrats argued passing a plan without raising new revenues is irresponsible.

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House members didn’t consider proposals to raise taxes during their debate Thursday, while senators overwhelmingly rejected measures to increase sales and income taxes during debate Wednesday.

Republicans who drafted both plans insisted growing tax revenues could support the new spending.

“The economy is on the rebound,” Schmidt said. He said of the Senate plan, “This makes the budget very tight, but it’s doable.”

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and her fellow Democrats have been skeptical the state can improve education funding without new revenues. Last year, Sebelius offered a plan raising sales and income taxes, allowing the state to take three years to phase in a $310 million increase in annual spending. Lawmakers rejected it.

She and other Democrats also argue that only a multiyear plan will satisfy the Supreme Court.

“To be sure, the Legislature has taken a few first steps on the long journey toward an acceptable school finance bill,” Sebelius said in a statement. “But our children go to school for 13 years; surely, we can pass a school plan that gets us past kindergarten.”

Other sore points for some legislators were provisions in each plan to allow school districts to raise additional local property taxes to supplement state aid. Currently, those property taxes can’t exceed 25 percent of the state’s commitment.

The Senate plan would raise the cap to 27 percent and the House plan to 30 percent. Critics said raising the cap will help wealthy districts more — the opposite of what the Supreme Court wants, they said.

“If you’re a poor kid in a poor district, it’s not going to do much for you,” House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney, D-Greensburg, said of his chamber’s plan. “If you’re a student in a wealthy district, you’ll probably do OK.”

Supporters of both proposals brushed off such criticism. House Education Committee Chairwoman Kathe Decker said Democratic critics simply want to spend more money.

“We have tried to address all of the issues the court talked about,” said Decker, R-Clay Center. “Whether we were looking at the Supreme Court or not, they’d say it was not enough.”