Topeka ? A Kansas state senator is proposing a bill intended to ensure that school districts can’t remove current students who live outside their boundaries.

But critics said Republican Sen. Ty Masterson’s bill is a solution in search of a problem. They claim it doesn’t address the main reason behind some districts limiting new, transfer students — budget cuts related to the state’s new law establishing temporary block grants for schools.

Masterson’s bill comes after two Shawnee County districts — Seaman Unified School District 345 and Silver Lake Unified School District 372 — said they have no plans to accept out-of-district students next school year, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported.

School administrators note that it won’t affect current nonresident students, but Masterson said he wants legislation that guarantees they’re protected.

“We never contemplated the possibility that a district might — because legally they could — refuse all those out-of-district kids,” said Masterson, the Senate’s budget committee chairman. He added that districts wouldn’t be required to continue accepting new nonresident students under the bill.

Seaman’s director of communications, Jeff Zehnder, wondered why the bill was necessary.

“This bill blocks something that no one is doing,” Zehnder said. “Is this bill good public policy, or is it just trying to make educators look bad? We would never do what this bill considers.”

According to the state education department, about 21,000 students attend a public school outside their home district. Hundreds of children in Shawnee County attend school outside the district they live in.

The block grant law would scrap the state’s school finance formula for the next two years. Lawmakers say they’ll write a new formula during that time.

Meanwhile, districts are to receive grants that largely freeze their general aid at this year’s level, cutting the link between fluctuations in student enrollment and funding. Most districts also would lose dollars in two other categories of state aid used for everyday operating expenses or maintenance costs.