Topeka ? As Senate leaders prepared to debut their education funding plan, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius talked up legislators’ progress Wednesday but acknowledged she isn’t sure their efforts will please the Kansas Supreme Court.

The Senate plan, like the House plan, is a response to orders issued last year by the court in a six-year-old lawsuit. Key senators have said their plan will be similar in size to the House plan, which phases in a $500 million increase over three years.

Senate leaders planned to unveil their plan today.

Sebelius and legislative leaders have embraced phasing in spending increases to avoid raising taxes, but have no assurances from the Supreme Court that such an approach is acceptable. The court issued its last ruling on school finance in July.

Several legislative leaders have acknowledged they’re hoping the court will accept a plan if most legislators and Sebelius endorse it.

“I don’t have any secret, double-secret code that says, ‘This will be acceptable’ and ‘This will not,”‘ Sebelius said during a news conference. “I think considerable progress has been made.”

Last year, under pressure from the Supreme Court, legislators increased spending on public schools by $290 million, or more than 10 percent, to more than $3 billion. But the justices deemed the action acceptable only for “interim purposes.”

The House plan has been criticized by Alan Rupe, a Wichita attorney representing parents and administrators in Dodge City and Salina, who sued the state, arguing it spent too little money on schools and distributed the money unfairly.

Rupe has questioned whether legislators would renege on a multiyear commitment of funds and said schools need the money immediately. Some educators have agreed.

The House plan provides an additional $175 million during its first year, including more than $69 million for programs helping poor and minority students. The chamber’s Select Committee on School Finance could vote on the plan Friday.

On Wednesday, the committee opened the first of two days of hearings on the proposal. The committee could send the bill to the House floor for debate within a week.