Both in tone and in substance, the Kansas Legislature’s 2007 session seems to be off to a good start.

Many Kansans found it gratifying that, on just the second day of the session, the Kansas Senate approved and sent to the Kansas House a bill that would ensure the third year of funding for school finance legislation passed last year. The House has expressed support of the third year of funding but, of course, has its own measure that would accomplish that goal.

That first major action of the session perhaps sums up what a number of legislators have said they see as a new spirit of cooperation in state government. Although there are positive signs that the governor and legislators are willing – perhaps more willing than they have been in some years – to work together and compromise to achieve important goals for the state, this still is a political arena in which officials pursue certain avenues for political reasons.

For instance, some Republican legislators have said that the budget proposed Thursday by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius makes more costly promises than the state can afford to keep, even with additional revenue created by an economic upswing. That could be a calculated move to make legislators look like the spoilers of popular plans included in the Sebelius proposal.

Nonetheless, there are many positive signs in the rhetoric that opened the new session and the governor’s second term. In his response to the governor’s State of the State message on Wednesday, Senate President Steve Morris said, “We look forward to working with the governor and ALL of our colleagues in the House and Senate. This new session offers each of us the opportunity to move ahead in a spirit of cooperation and compromise :” The emphasis on the word ALL in the written text of Morris’ speech seemed to be a message not only for the governor and Democratic legislators but also for members of his own Republican Party, who often have been stymied by contentious divisions in recent sessions.

Another positive indicator is that the governor and leaders in both the House and Senate seem focused on the same key issues such as energy, education and health care. All have said, for instance, that the state must address the delayed maintenance needs on state university campuses, although it won’t be known until the plans are on the table how similar they will be.

It’s usually easier to agree that something must be done than it is to agree on exactly what that something should be and how much it should cost. For better or worse, politics is bound to influence many discussions in state government this year, but it would be wonderful if the guiding principle for the decisions of our state officials is what is best for the state and its people. Lawmakers seem to be off to a reasonably good start in that regard; it is hoped the same can be said when they reach the session’s finish line.