Topeka ? Wichita lawmakers on Wednesday warned that Kansas could lose much of its aircraft manufacturing industry unless the Legislature spends more on aviation training.

“The competition is real,” said state Sen. Donald Betts, D-Wichita. “If we lose these jobs, we’ll be hurting.”

Aircraft manufacturing is a major part of the Kansas economy, employing more than 36,500 workers and providing $1.3 billion or 22 percent of the state’s tax revenue.

But officials have said several of the major manufacturers are being wooed by other states with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of economic incentives.

Andrew Schlapp, a lobbyist for Sedgwick County, said executives of major manufacturers are looking for something to keep them in Kansas.

“A message needs to be sent,” Schlapp said.

Both Democrats and Republicans from Wichita have been pushing for a $5 million increase in funding to provide classrooms and equipment to train workers for the aviation industry at the new training center at Jabara Airport in Wichita.

House budget writers included that funding in their spending plan, but on Wednesday a majority of Senate budget writers said they wanted to wait.

Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dwayne Umbarger, R-Thayer, said senators want to be responsive to the needs of the aviation industry but because of budget constraints the committee needed more time to consider the increase.