Students in a 9th grade biology class at Southwest Junior High School participate in a virtual classroom. Lawrence school Supt. Randy Weseman said statewide budget cuts could lead to layoffs or reductions in services.

State budget cuts to public schools are unacceptable and elected leaders need to raise enough revenue to properly fund education, a commission said Monday.

The charge for more school funding was led by the 2010 Commission, a panel that deals with school finance issues and whose membership includes two former chairs of the Kansas Republican Party.

“We’ve got a whole generation who will be negatively impacted … by the idiots and fools in Washington and Topeka that have been making policy,” said 2010 commissioner Dennis Jones of Lakin, who served as state GOP chair in 2004.

“It’s time the Legislature take proactive steps to ensure that education funding is solid and consistent,” he said.

2010 Commission Chair Rochelle Chronister of Neodesha, who was chair of the Kansas Republican Party chair in 1989, said lawmakers need to “step up to the plate in the bad times and enhance that revenue in order to ensure that education is delivered to the kids.”

She noted that a report by the Kansas Department of Revenue showed tax cuts approved by the state since 1995 have shorted the treasury $1.2 billion per year.

The 2010 Commission approved motions to emphasize that public school education was the most important function of state government and that money matters when it comes to raising the level of student achievement.

The positions taken by the commission stand in contrast to Gov. Mark Parkinson, a Democrat, and the Republican-dominated Legislature.

Since tax revenues have declined during the recession, the state budget has undergone four rounds of budget cuts. Republican legislative leaders have vowed to oppose tax increases, saying that would be too great a burden to place on Kansans during economic hard times. Parkinson has said he would consider tax increases but has not committed one way or the other.

Public school base state aid has been cut from $4,433 per pupil to $4,218 per pupil. Schools are expected to take another hit soon to bring spending down to $4,068 per pupil.

Commissioners lamented that the cuts will hurt the very programs that were increased because of a school funding lawsuit and are designed to help the hardest to educate children.

“We cannot sacrifice a generation of students because the economy is weak,” said state Rep. Marti Crow, D-Leavenworth, who serves on the commission.

The commission itself was a product of legislation meant to deal with the funding lawsuit. Since the panel is set to expire at the end of the year, Chronister said she doubted lawmakers will renew the commission after they read its final report critical of recent school cuts.

“I expect we will not be continued next year, but we will have done our job,” she said.