Any positive points Kansas legislators make with voters by pushing hot-button issues onto the legislative agenda now probably will be wiped out by negative voter reaction if there is another special session this summer to deal with school finance issues.

Most Kansans were annoyed last year that legislators had to be forced into a taxpayer-funded special session to come up with a school finance plan. It seemed then, as it seems now, that legislators were failing in their responsibility to deal with a pivotal state issue in a timely and nonpartisan way.

A number of legislators seem more focused on trying to make political points by pushing voters’ hot buttons on issues that get public attention but are far less important to the future of the state than school funding. In some cases, the issues are being kept alive more in an effort to use them as political ammunition than because they have much chance of passage.

The effort to overturn earlier legislation that allows some undocumented immigrants to pay resident tuition at state universities and community colleges is such an example. Even though the measure already has been rejected by the full House, a few legislators continue to beat the drum. Rep. Becky Hutchins, R-Holton, who sponsored the bill, predicts the tuition will be a campaign issue and plans to help it along. She has the list of those who voted against the measure, she said, “and the postcards will go out.”

The bill that would allow many Kansans to carry concealed guns is another politically interesting hot button. The measure passed both houses of the Legislature by margins large enough to override a veto by the governor. But how many of the legislators who voted for the measure were banking on the governor vetoing the bill, as she did an almost-identical measure two years ago?

Now that she has, they will have the opportunity to switch their vote and prevent the veto from being overridden. Then they can tell concealed-carry proponents that they voted for the bill, but changed their vote when it became obvious there weren’t enough votes to override. And, in the process, legislators have forced the governor to take a solid stand on concealed-carry that can be used against her in the upcoming campaign.

Such political games are part of the territory, but they are disturbing in light of the Legislature’s inability – or unwillingness – to deal with the more significant issue of school finance. While legislators are pushing a variety of emotional hot buttons, legislative leaders say a special session to deal with education is becoming more likely every day.

Although both the House and Senate came up with three-year plans to meet the Kansas Supreme Court’s mandate to increase school funding, those plans now are being rejected in favor of far smaller, one-year plans that are unlikely to be accepted by the court and fall far short of meeting the funding goals set out in the Legislature’s own cost study.

Few legislators oppose increased funding for schools, but finding the money poses some challenges. The governor supports raising funds through expanded gambling, but a gambling measure failed to pass the Senate last week. Legislators can commit to two years of school funding, but without some kind of revenue increase, funding for the third year is left up in the air.

It’s not an easy issue, but it won’t be any easier three months from now. As most voters see it, if legislators can agree on a school funding plan when their feet are to the fire in a special session, they can agree on a funding plan by the end of the regular session. If school funding issues force a second special session, lawmakers can expect impatient Kansas voters to ask them for an explanation.