In this file photo from February 2016, Sen. Ty Masterson, R-Andover, left, and Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka negotiate budget bill at the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka.

Topeka ? An outcry from educators has forced the Kansas Senate’s budget chief to cancel a hearing on a bill that would take control of school finance away from the state Department of Education.

Senate Bill 311 would give the governor more direct control over school finance, which is now overseen by the state board and education commissioner.

Educators across the state have flooded lawmakers with emails opposing the measure, The Wichita Eagle reported.

“That’s a mountain that we don’t need to climb this year,” Senate Ways and Means Committee chairman Ty Masterson said when canceling Thursday’s hearing. He said he doesn’t plan to return to the issue this year.

The Andover Republican blamed education interest groups for stirring controversy about the measure, which was introduced late last session as an anonymous committee bill.

“There’s no question they’re overreacting,” he said.

Currently, the Legislature and governor approve the K-12 budget and the money is distributed to the state’s school districts by the Department of Education. Under the bill, the Department of Administration, overseen by the governor, would distribute state checks to schools.

“You wouldn’t be able to play games then,” Masterson said, declining to go into detail about what games he wants to avoid.

The ranking Democrat on Masterson’s committee, Sen. Laura Kelly of Topeka, called the bill an unconstitutional “power grab.”

The Kansas Constitution gives the state education board the power of “general supervision of public schools, educational institutions and all the educational interests of the state.”

The elected board and its appointed commissioner oversee the Education Department and are run independently from Brownback’s administration.

Mark Tallman, spokesman for the Kansas Association of School Boards, said it makes sense for the Education Department to oversee school funding because it’s tied to everything else the agency does.

“There is just a widespread belief among educators that the state department (of education) exists to help them, to serve them. And they don’t want to lose that,” Tallman said.