Flawed as it may be, give Kansas lawmakers credit for getting a new school funding bill on the table.

Given the state’s budget problems, the demands of a Kansas Supreme Court order and the competing political interests involved in K-12 education, writing a new school funding formula is anything but easy. Writing one that everybody likes? Impossible.

That said, it’s hard to imagine the current bill (House Bill 2410), which only increases public education funding by $75 million per year and mandates that a significant portion of the funding be raised by districts through local property taxes, is the best lawmakers can do.

The bill is expected to be advanced by the House K-12 Budget Committee to the full House by April 7. It is reasonable for Kansans to expect changes before that happens.

As it stands, HB 2410 establishes “foundation aid” for each district based on enrollment, with additional weightings given for at-risk and bilingual students, along with other factors. The bill also gives districts the option of raising additional money locally for program enhancements and extracurricular activities.

Under the new proposal, districts would be required to raise local taxes to provide the local share of “foundation aid.” Districts would have the option, with limits, to raise additional money under what would be called “local enhancement budgets” and “local activities budgets.”

The state’s share of foundation aid would be $4,170 per student. Local districts would add another $1,150 per student, for a total of $5,320. Districts could then levy taxes for another $288 per student for its enhancement budget and $212 per student for an activities budget.

Those local property tax levies would be subsidized with additional state aid so taxpayers in lower-wealth districts would not have to pay higher tax rates in order to generate comparable levels of funding that wealthier districts could generate, a process known as “equalization.”

On a statewide basis, according to the Department of Education’s estimates, the state would pay $3.157 billion on public schools next year under the new plan. That compares to $3.081 billion it is spending this year, an increase of just $75.6 million.

The new funding plan looks a lot like the 2015 funding plan lawmakers discarded that year, except that the “Local Option Budget” that districts could use to supplement state funding is now essentially mandatory.

The Kansas Supreme Court, which earlier this month ruled school funding in Kansas is unconstitutionally low and gave lawmakers until June 30 to fix it, has not dictated how much new funding is necessary to meet its definition. But $75 million has to be underwhelming to education advocates, considering the Kansas State Board of Education estimated $566 million is needed this year to bring school funding up to “adequacy.”

Consider House Bill 2410 a work in progress. Lawmakers can do better, and it’s reasonable to expect that they will.