Topeka ? As a House committee moved closer Thursday to finishing a school finance plan, members said it was likely to emerge as a one-year proposal that creates obligations in future years.

The House Select Committee hoped to finish its work today.

“We have a lot of people in our caucus who want a one-year plan,” said Chairwoman Kathe Decker.

The defeat of a gambling bill in the Senate on Thursday led to questions about the viability of a three-year plan in that chamber, as well.

“It is now all but impossible to pay for a three-year school finance plan that is anywhere close to the amount of money the court has ordered,” said Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence.

The committee appeared to be moving closer to approving $175 million in new spending for the 2006-07 school year, which included $75 million in spending commitments the Legislature made in 2005.

Those commitments included increases in special education spending and raising state aid per pupil based on the Consumer Price Index for urban areas.

Rep. Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson, said estimates are that legislators would be obligated to increase school spending in the 2007 session at least $138 million based on those two items and other items in the emerging finance bill.

The two-year increase would total about $313 million, less than the $500 million over three years originally proposed by House leaders and less than the estimated $470 million that was recommended by a cost study presented Jan. 9 by the Legislative Division of Post Audit. The increases would be in addition to the more than $3 billion the state spends annually on K-12 education.

Decker, R-Clay Center, said the smaller amount reflected concerns among Republicans about a multiyear school plan that the state couldn’t afford in the coming years. The committee was expected to finish the bill Thursday after the House finished work on the proposed state budget for fiscal year 2007, which begins July 1.

Senators will debate their own $660 million, three-year plan next week.

The bill is financed with existing state revenues, but Senate leadership had pinned its hopes on a gambling bill that would have dedicated 75 percent of the state’s take on profits from two proposed casinos and 5,000 slot machines to education. The bill was rejected 20-16.

Whichever school finance plan advances, the Kansas Supreme Court must agree that it meets the justices’ concerns.

Last summer, the court signed off on $290 million in new spending in response to orders the justices issued in a lawsuit filed in 1999 by parents and administrators in the Dodge City and Salina school districts.

Justices said the money was acceptable for “interim purposes” and that they would likely order more spending to bring school funding up to constitutional requirements.

The House committee made a significant policy change Thursday in how money is spent on students deemed at risk of failing in school.

Rep. Ray Merrick, R-Stillwell, attached an amendment that would distribute at-risk funding based on the number of students in each district below proficiency in math and reading. Current law distributes the money based on the number of students eligible for free lunches.

At-risk programs for poor and minority students were the crux of the 1999 lawsuit and highlighted as a growing need by the cost study to meet state and federal student achievement goals.

Merrick’s plan would reallocate funds, which would not increase significantly the number of children served. However, Merrick said the money would go to those students who are falling behind but not currently qualifying for additional state funds.

Senators considered similar changes but deferred action until completion of a study by a council appointed by legislators last year. That report is expected in October.