Kansas Statehouse in Topeka, February 2014.

Topeka ? Republican leaders in the Senate called off plans to work through the weekend and instead adjourned early on Friday after making no progress on solving the state’s looming budget crisis during the first week of the wrap-up session.

Although there has been fairly broad bipartisan support on the three major issues confronting the Legislature this year — a budget, a school finance plan and a tax package to fund them — lawmakers have been locked in a virtual stalemate over which issue to tackle first.

Republican leaders in both chambers want to pass a tax package first in order to put some limits around discussions over spending. Democrats and a large number of moderate Republicans argue that the first priority is the school finance issue because of the Kansas Supreme Court’s threat to close public schools July 1 if lawmakers don’t pass a plan that meets constitutional muster.

“We’re at a stalemate until somebody leads. That’s what it comes down to,” Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley, of Topeka, said. “And so far, we haven’t had the kind of leadership we need in the Senate. I can’t speak for the House, but in the Senate, we haven’t had that kind of leadership because we’ve got a president and a majority leader, both of whom voted against overriding the governor’s veto and both of whom voted for a flat tax (proposal) that got three votes.”

He was referring to Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, and Majority Leader Jim Denning, R-Overland Park.

Under Senate rules, Denning is the one primarily in charge of deciding which bills will be debated and when. On Friday, though, he continued to insist that the tax issue must be decided first.

“We need to structurally balance our budget so we get that variable off, and then get on to school finance,” he said.

House Speaker Ron Ryckman, R-Olathe, said he plans to follow the same schedule.

Twice during the week, lawmakers abruptly called off plans to vote on a tax package after Democrats and moderate Republicans said they would not vote to pass a plan before they know the size of the school finance package.

Their votes are needed to reach the two-thirds super majority needed to override an all-but-certain veto by Gov. Sam Brownback.

Ryckman, however, said there are talks taking place on a tax package that Brownback would accept so it would only need a simple majority in both chambers.

“We’re still trying to find that balance of what needs a veto-proof majority or a simple majority. I think there have been negotiations and discussions on both fronts,” he said.

Earlier in the day, the Senate tax committee worked on another “flat tax” bill, similar to the one that got only three votes earlier in the session. It would impose a uniform 4.4 percent tax on all income in Kansas. It would also raise the standard deduction so that people at the very bottom of the income ladder would owe no state income taxes.

Hensley said that would be moving in the opposite direction of where he thinks the state needs to go.

“We should be looking at restoring the tax structure, the three brackets that were in place before Sam Brownback’s income tax cuts. That’s the kind of tax bill we should be looking at,” he said.

On Thursday, the Senate budget committee finished work on a two-year “omnibus” budget that includes funding for all state programs except for public education. The Senate’s plan is to wait for the House to pass a bill, then build from that framework.

The House school finance bill is still pending in a committee, which is expected to advance it to the full House early next week. It would add about $450 million in school funding under a new formula over the next two years.

But Republican leaders in both chambers say they do not plan to bring either of those bills up for debate until lawmakers first reach agreement on a tax plan.