The Kansas Legislature, which began the 2017 session amid hope and promise, is back to floundering.

You could sense it slipping away in February, when lawmakers fell three votes shy of overriding Gov. Sam Brownback’s veto of a tax plan that would have gone a long way toward fixing Kansas’ increasingly calamitous budget woes. Up until that moment, the session had largely been a bipartisan affair, a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans pushing the Legislature to the brink of repairing the tax cuts, implemented by Brownback and the far right in 2012 and 2013, that have proven disastrous for the state.

At the time, lawmakers said not to worry. There are other plans. There’s plenty of time. Sure.

So, one week into what is supposed to be the wrapup session, the Legislature is nowhere near wrapping anything up. And on Friday, lawmakers knocked off early instead of working through the weekend. Why? Because legislators are back to their old ways. Not only do they not have a consensus on a new tax plan, they don’t have agreement on what to tackle first — taxes or spending.

Republican leaders in both chambers want to pass a tax package first in order to put limits around discussions of spending. Democrats and moderate Republicans want to address school finance first 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.

Twice last week, lawmakers called off votes 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.

Said Senate Democratic leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka, “We’re at a stalemate until somebody leads.” Hensley was referring to Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, and Majority Leader Jim Denning, R-Overland Park, but Hensley should also check a mirror. Digging in over whether the state tackles school funding or tax policy first isn’t helping.

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

Denning’s position seems reasonable on the surface, but why was the Senate Tax Committee wasting time on a flat tax proposal last week? Didn’t the committee learn its lesson a few weeks ago when a flat tax proposal was laughed out of Senate chambers in a 37-3 vote? When the vote is 37-3, you don’t tweak, you move on.

The Legislature has separated again into partisan camps. The Legislature has moved away from compromise. The Legislature has forgotten the 2016 election, in which the state’s residents expressed thorough dissatisfaction with the governor and the policies of the past four years.

The Legislature is floundering again and there doesn’t appear to be anyone willing or able to get lawmakers back on task. What a shame.