Topeka ? Legislative negotiators agreed Thursday night on a state budget that reduces funding for public school districts but generally appears to leave higher education alone.

The deal between House and Senate negotiators was designed to ensure that Kansas spends enough of its own tax dollars to satisfy the requirements for claiming federal stimulus funds for education. The stimulus money would help balance the $13 billion budget for fiscal year 2010, which begins July 1.

Some key details of the budget agreement weren’t clear immediately. Negotiators told their staff to include the exact amount of state dollars in public school aid and higher education to pull down stimulus funds.

Legislative staff said the result is a cut of about $25 million, or 0.7 percent, in state aid to school districts. Public universities, community colleges and technical colleges don’t appear to lose much, if anything, in operating funds. However, legislative staff still were crunching numbers Thursday night and said institutions may face more restrictions than in the past on how some dollars can be used.

The deal represented a significant shift from how the House and Senate had treated higher education in comparison to K-12. Previously, both chambers had worked on far bigger cuts in higher education.