It is time for Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and his administration to accept that they lost the battle in 2017.

Last week, members of the governor’s administration made a number of critical references to the new budget, which legislators approved through overriding a veto by the governor.

Revenue Secretary Sam Williams, communications director Melika Willoughby, her assistant Ian Fury and Michael Austin, an economist in the Department of Revenue, all took shots at the new budget, which took effect Saturday, the first day of the 2018 fiscal year.

“The legislature’s budget funds more than $200 million in new spending — that is spending above the increased funding for schools,” Williams wrote in an op-ed. “Despite the legislature’s historic $1.2 billion tax hike, they’ve already spent every dime. Unless cuts and efficiencies are made, the legislature will be looking at more taxes in two years.”

During a meeting of the State Finance Council, a group chaired by the governor, Brownback again defended his budget plan, which was to liquidate state assets while waiting for the economy to improve.

“The concept in it was to put forth something so that we could maintain a pro-growth income tax policy and bridge to what we thought would be better income times, which I believe we’re starting to see,” he said.

The vote to override the governor’s veto, which requires two-thirds support from both houses, included broad support from both parties. In reality, the budget override was the final nail in the coffin for Brownback’s six-year economic experiment in Kansas. Legislators, even those who stood by the governor’s side in previous years, recognized that Kansas could no longer wait for the economic growth Brownback kept promising his trickle-down philosophy would provide. Legislators, faced with the worst debt crisis and smallest reserves of any state in the nation, had to do something.

And legislators were in no mood for the second-guessing coming from the governor’s administration last week. House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr., R-Olathe, rejected Williams’ claims, pointing out budget projections show the state will finish the next two-year cycle with a positive ending balance.

“Governor, as you know, I’m a farmer,” said House Majority Leader Don Hineman, R-Dighton. “I’ve been a cattleman, and that means I’ve experienced tough financial times … So I totally understand what it means when someone increases debt and considers liquidating assets. That’s really a sign of desperation. It means your fiscal house is in such disarray that you’re starting to shut down, that you’re grasping at straws. And that was the option you gave to us in January.”

No doubt, the 2017 session was a rejection of the governor’s tax and economic policies and that had to be difficult for Brownback and his supporters. But the bipartisan support for a different direction was overwhelming and one would hope that those in the governor’s administration would respect the new policies or move on to find another line of work.