Delivering his sixth State of the State address, Gov. Sam Brownback discouraged lawmakers from trying to reverse his tax policies or expand Medicaid during the 2017 legislative session.

Topeka ? Gov. Sam Brownback offered few details Tuesday night about how he plans to close the state’s looming budget crisis, but he signaled that he is not willing to compromise on his signature tax cuts or his refusal to expand the state’s Medicaid program.

In his seventh State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature, Brownback called for a new school finance plan that would include merit-based pay for teachers, as well as the establishment of a dental school at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

But on the key budget and tax issues confronting the state, Brownback gave no sign that he is willing to change the core positions that have defined his tenure as governor, particularly his elimination of income taxes for more than 330,000 farmers and business owners.

“Kansas was the first state in the nation to pass such a small-business tax policy focused on lifting the income burden from job creators,” his written speech said. “With two-thirds of Kansans working for small businesses, this policy is targeted support that Kansans have used (to) increase pay for their employees,” as well as holding prices down for their products, and expanding their businesses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tstWp1q-ynE

Brownback also indicated he is unwilling to consider expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which President-elect Donald Trump and Republican leaders in Congress have vowed to repeal.

“The new Congress and administration in Washington are setting to work repealing and replacing Obamacare, dramatically rewriting the Medicaid program,” his written speech said. “Promises of limitless ‘free’ money from Washington to cover expanded populations were never going to be kept, but that reality might now arrive sooner than later.”

In a pre-recorded Democratic response, Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, of Topeka, blasted the governor’s speech.

“To put it simply: Governor Brownback’s economic policies have caused our state to go broke and we are faced with a budget shortfall of nearly $1 billion,” he said. “Is there any wonder Sam Brownback has become the most unpopular Governor in America?”

Brownback’s budget director, Shawn Sullivan, is scheduled to outline the details of the administration’s budget plan Wednesday morning. The most recent revenue forecasts show the state will fall about $340 million short of what it needs to fund the current year’s budget, and another $583 million short of what would be needed to fund a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, assuming no major spending cuts or revenue increases are enacted.

Brownback did, however, say that his proposed budget would be balanced, “in that it reconciles spending with available revenue.”

In addition to balancing the budget, lawmakers face the daunting challenge of writing a new school finance formula this year to replace the one they repealed in 2015, at Brownback’s urging.

Brownback has said he does not intend to offer a specific funding formula, but he did say he thinks it should include merit pay for teachers, something that teachers unions have generally opposed.

“Two of my children teach,” Brownback said. “I too have taught. Educators are not simply working a job; they are fulfilling a calling. For those teachers leading the way, going above and beyond their duties, funds should be available to provide merit based pay increases.”

Brownback also proposed two higher education initiatives: a scholarship program that he announced earlier for students who want to become teachers and teach in hard-to-fill subjects or rural school districts; and a challenge to the state’s colleges and universities to offer a bachelor’s degree program for a total, four-year cost of $15,000 or less.

But Brownback offered no details about how to structure such a degree program, saying only, “I trust that Kansas colleges and universities are fully capable to rise to this call.”

Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence, who has worked as an administrator at the University of Kansas — where the standard, in-state undergraduate tuition and fees total more than $5,200 per semester, or $45,580 for a four-year program under the compact rates — called that idea unrealistic.

“I don’t know where you could get that,” she said. “You could start, but you need additional money. You’re going to need scholarships, you need to work a job, you’ll have to do a lot of other things in order to make that happen, but that is not realistic.”

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka and members of the House and Senate Democratic caucuses respond to Gov. Sam Brownback's 2017 State of the State address Tuesday evening.

In the health care arena, Brownback reiterated plans he announced last week to expand residency training programs in rural parts of Kansas and to bring a privately funded school of osteopathic medicine to Kansas.

But he added to those initiatives Tuesday night, calling for establishing a dental school at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

All of those initiatives, he said, are intended to relieve a critical shortage of health care workers in Kansas, particularly in rural areas.

“Kansas does not have a dental school and remains dependent on out-of-state schools,” his written speech said. “This is not a long term solution. My proposed budget has money to begin the development of a Kansas dental school at the University of Kansas Medical Center.”

KU officials briefed the Kansas Board of Regents in August about the possibility of opening a dental school. They estimated the start-up cost at about $43 million and said it would require another $5 million a year in state general fund support.

Democrats said they support the concept of many of the initiatives Brownback offered, but said that it’s unlikely the state can afford any of them.

“The concept of a dental school is great. We have no money,” House Minority Leader Jim Ward of Wichita said. “The idea of teacher scholarships for underserved or needy areas is very good. Where does the money come from?”

Details of how the administration proposes to pay for those initiatives while also closing the looming budget holes will be unveiled starting at 9 a.m. Wednesday when the administration begins briefing the House and Senate budget and tax committees.