Topeka ? Democrats say a Republican budget plan to cut public schools by $26 million will jeopardize $367 million in federal stimulus funds.

But Republicans deny the accusation.

Who’s right?

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ budget director Duane Goossen said there is no definite answer at this point.

But Goossen added that when Kansas applies for its share of federal stimulus funding, it would be on solid ground if it rejected the Republican proposal and made no further cuts to education.

He said the intent of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is to stabilize education funding. The act directs states to keep their education expenditures at the higher level of fiscal year 2008 or 2009, which is the current fiscal year.

Cutting school funding as proposed by Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee would take it below the 2009 level, which is the higher level for Kansas, Goossen said.

“If we’re taking federal money, and the intent of the act is to keep education stabilized, should we cut when we don’t need to?” Goossen said.

The state will have to apply for education stimulus funds from the U.S. Department of Education, he said. “We are going to have to make a case for whether we are doing the right thing or not. I’m not quite sure how they will act on that (cutting schools),” he said.

“To take federal money and still cut education, when we don’t have to, makes our case weaker,” Goossen said.

The issue will be a major dispute when the full House takes up the appropriations bill this week.

At stake is $367 million in federal funds over two years for both public schools and higher education.

In statements to the press, House Republicans guaranteed that they have provided enough state funding to ensure that Kansas will receive “all education-related federal stimulus dollars.”

House Appropriations Chairman Kevin Yoder, R-Overland Park, said, “Parents and teachers should be encouraged that education has remained our top priority. While cuts to all areas were unavoidable, education received the smallest reduction of any state agency.”

But Sebelius, a Democrat, blasted the proposed cut, saying it would break the state’s commitment to education. “This action will inflict greater harm on our economy by forcing schools to lay off teachers and eroding our state’s greatest economic development tool — a prepared and educated workforce.”

Sebelius has proposed keeping school funding levels flat for two more years.