Topeka ? Senators and House members took different positions Tuesday on cutting funding for public schools as they approved rival versions of a $13 billion-plus budget for the state’s next fiscal year.

The House’s spending plan, approved 70-54, would reduce aid to Kansas’ 295 school districts by almost $26 million during fiscal 2010, which begins July 1. The reduction is only 0.7 percent, but Gov. Kathleen Sebelius opposes it.

The Senate’s proposed budget, which passed on a 26-14 vote, contains no cuts in education funding. Senators didn’t even debate the issue when they considered their budget bill.

House and Senate negotiators hoped to begin meeting today to draft the final version of the 2010 budget.

Both of the Republican-controlled chambers agree on using federal stimulus funds to prevent a deficit by the end of fiscal 2010, as Sebelius proposed. Both houses also endorsed her plan to expand state health coverage to an additional 8,000 children.

But the difference over education funding is one of dozens the negotiators must reconcile.

“We must keep the commitment we made to schools,” Sebelius said in a statement. “I hope the Legislature will work to find a way to keep our promise to provide quality education for our children.”

The state’s current budget is almost $13.5 billion, and it would drop significantly were it not for $585 million in federal stimulus funds that both chambers used to bolster the fiscal 2010 budget.

The Senate’s budget for 2010 provides about $13.3 billion in spending, a decline of $153 million, or 1.1 percent. The House’s spending plan is $13.4 billion, some $55 million, or 0.4 percent, less than the current year’s.

Many Republicans argue a modest cut in the state’s $3.77 billion in school aid will lessen cuts elsewhere in the budget.

“Education should share in the cuts,” said Sen. Tim Huelskamp, a Fowler Republican, after the Senate’s budget vote.

But Mark Tallman, a lobbyist for the Kansas Association of School Boards, said senators could avoid a cut as long as the budget is balanced.

“The stimulus money is there,” he said. “I’m guessing there was a sense of, ‘Let’s not do damage if we don’t have to.”‘

Budget debates in both chambers saw bipartisan support for Sebelius’ plan to spend $1.2 million to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

The House accepted her proposal to use federal stimulus funds to cover the additional costs. The Senate opted to tap funds from a past settlement of tobacco litigation.

Sebelius wants to extend coverage to children living in families earning between 200 percent and 250 percent of the federal poverty level, or up to $55,000 for a family of four.

“Anything we can do to help Kansas families better afford health insurance is good policy,” said Sen. Jim Barnett, an Emporia Republican who is a doctor.

Debates about the budget allowed legislators to discuss issues across state government.

On a voice vote, the Senate added an amendment from Huelskamp to require state officials to reimburse the state if they use its aircraft for personal or political trips.

The House’s budget includes a provision cutting legislators’ daily salary payments during the 2010 session by 10 percent, or nearly $9, to about $80.