Topeka ? A school finance bill eventually will make it to the House floor, but the legislator shepherding the measure through her committee said Monday it could take a while.

That’s because of concerns raised late last week that a three-year, $500 million package from House leaders would exhaust state resources, absent new revenues.

The state could afford to finance the first year of the plan with existing revenues. However, projections from legislators’ staff show the next two years of the plan, along with other budgets obligations, would create a shortfall that would balloon to more than $600 million by 2009.

The same is true for a $660 million plan drafted by Senate leaders.

Kathe Decker, chairwoman of the House Select Committee on School Finance, said the panel would continue working through the school finance bill, but she acknowledged that budget concerns had taken some steam out of the drive to pass it.

“I don’t want to have something go through the committee and die on the floor,” said Decker, R-Clay Center. “If we need to slow down and start over, do that instead of have it all die.”

Decker said a one-year plan suggested Friday by House Majority Leader Clay Aurand, R-Courtland, had many rethinking the larger, more ambitious plan.

Aurand would provide $120 million in new state funds and require school districts to set aside $195 million in local property tax revenues.

The House and Senate plans are a response to state Supreme Court orders issued last year in a six-year-old lawsuit.

“My biggest concern over school finance is: How do we satisfy the court and get them out of the picture?” Decker said.

Last year, under pressure from the 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 Senate plan provides an additional $180 million in state aid to public schools in its first year. It also requires school districts to set aside $70 million in property tax revenues, for a total increase of more than $250 million.

Senate President Steve Morris negotiated with House leaders and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius on education funding. He told the Senate Education Committee on Monday afternoon that leaders realize the plans under consideration work in next year’s budget but are iffy – at best – in the future.

“The year after that, it gets problematic without new revenue,” said Morris, R-Hugoton.

And money isn’t the only short commodity in the Statehouse. Legislators have just two weeks before committees are scheduled to finish work on bills and all action focuses on the House and Senate floors.

The Senate panel will take testimony Tuesday and Wednesday but has no date for working on the bill to send it to the floor for debate. House members resume their talks Thursday.

The House leaders’ plan commits $175 million in new state dollars to schools in its first year, without any requirement for local school districts to set aside property tax revenues.

Generally, the House leaders’ plan favors larger, urban districts more than the Senate plan does, though under both, some districts receiving the most extra aid per student are rural.

On Monday, the House committee discussed funding for programs helping students at risk of failing in school.

Some members were concerned that while the funding is based on students qualifying for free lunches, thousands of other students aren’t proficient in math and reading. The problem, legislators said, is how to give districts the necessary funds for at-risk programs for students who aren’t poor enough to qualify.