School finance countdown: 15 days

The state Supreme Court has given lawmakers until April 12 to produce a constitutional school finance plan.

MONDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS

• The House and Senate budget conference committee started meeting but made little headway on major differences between the chambers’ spending plans. The House would delay a proposed 2.5 percent state employee pay increase from July 1 to March 12, 2006, and reduce funding to universities by $2.3 million. The House and Senate also are at odds on how to fund public schools.

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Time reserved for conference committees.

9:30 a.m.: Budget conference committee

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“They waited until the abortion clinic bill is breathing down their necks — and breathing down their necks with veto-proof majorities in both houses.”

— Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, reacting to an announcement that state officials may adopt new rules for all clinics that perform minor surgeries