The Kansas Statehouse in Topeka

Topeka ? Kansas lawmakers will head into their final week of the 2018 regular session starting Monday with a host of major issues on the table that will probably make for long days on the floor of each chamber.

The biggest issue on the table is school finance, which the House plans to debate on Monday.

House Bill 2445 would phase in an estimated $522 million increase in school funding over five years, an increase that supporters hope will satisfy a Kansas Supreme Court order to increase funding and improve educational outcomes for the roughly 25 percent of all students who are currently performing below grade level.

An analysis by the Kansas State Department of Education shows it would add about $145 million in new funding in the upcoming 2018-2019 school year. A little more than $44 million of that would go for special education.

Locally, the Lawrence school district would receive a $3.4 million increase, including $1.3 million for special education.

Eudora schools would see an increase of about $564,000 next year, and Baldwin City schools would get about $420,000 in new money.

But there are 21 districts, all with fewer than 600 students, that would actually get funding cuts under the plan, according to the agency’s analysis. Hardest hit would be the Atchison school district, which stands to lose $248,088 for its general fund budget, although it would get $85,037 in new special education funding.

Also on Monday, possibly while that debate is going on, the Kansas Department of Revenue will release figures for total tax collections in the month of March.

For the last several months, revenues have been coming in higher than projected, and some lawmakers have told reporters they have already seen indications that the March report will show revenues significantly higher than expected.

Meanwhile, the Senate school finance committee is also scheduled to hold its own discussion about a school finance formula on Monday.

But there is also the possibility of a debate and vote on a constitutional amendment that would virtually prohibit Kansas courts from ever again declaring that the Legislature has failed to provide adequate funding.

Late last week, the House Taxation Committee advanced House Concurrent Resolution 5029 to the full chamber.

It would change current language in Article 6 of the Kansas Constitution that says “the Legislature shall make suitable provision for finance of the educational interests of the state” by deleting the word “make” and replacing it with “determine.”

It would also add language saying, “The determination of the total amount of funding that constitutes suitable provision … is exclusively a legislative power,” and that, “No court … shall alter, amend, repeal or otherwise abrogate such power.”

That amendment would need approval from a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate before it would go on a statewide ballot for voter approval.

Budget and taxes

The Senate recently passed a preliminary budget bill that makes adjustments to the two-year budget plan lawmakers approved in 2017, without any adjustments for school finance.

The House was scheduled to debate its own version of that bill on Thursday, March 29. But late that afternoon, with members anxious to leave Topeka for the three-day Easter weekend, Republican leaders decided to skip over the bill. They have not yet set a new date to consider it.

Meanwhile, lawmakers still have a number of tax and other revenue-generating bills pending that could come up in the final week.

On the House side, there is a bill that would enable the state to capture more sales tax revenue from internet sales. The House was scheduled to debate House Bill 2756, but that was delayed due to a large number of anticipated amendments.

Meanwhile, the Federal and State Affairs Committees in both chambers have bills to legalize sports betting in Kansas, but only if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns a federal law that currently prohibits it. A ruling in a pending case on that issue is expected later this year.

On the Senate side, though, a bill sitting on the calendar would actually reduce revenue for the state. The Senate tax committee last week advanced House Bill 2228 after inserting new language aimed at preventing the state from reaping a windfall as a result of changes in federal tax law that Congress enacted in December.

Specifically, it would allow Kansans to continue taking itemized deductions for expenses that are no longer allowable under federal law. It would also give taxpayers the option of itemizing deductions on their state returns, even if they took the standard deduction on their federal forms.

Current law only allows people to take the same itemized deductions on their state taxes that they take on their federal forms.

It also calls for 25 percent increase in the Kansas standard deduction, resulting in a tax cut for all filers who don’t itemize their deductions.

Budget officials have not yet released their estimate of how much revenue that bill could cost the state.

Other issues

Besides schools, budgets and taxes, lawmakers have a host of other issues that could come up in the final week.

Two gun-related bills are currently in a conference committee awaiting action. House Bill 2145 would bar certain individuals, including those convicted of domestic violence within the previous five years, from possessing firearms.

And House Bill 2042 would allow people with out-of-state permits to carry concealed firearms to legally do so in Kansas, thus enabling people with Kansas permits to carry their weapons in other states.

The House version of that bill, however, would lower the age for obtaining permits to 18 and require colleges and universities to allow anyone with such a permit to legally carry concealed firearms on campus.

The issue of allowing faith-based adoption agencies to have access to state contracts and grants, even if they discriminate against certain individuals based on their religious beliefs, is also now in a conference committee.

The Senate last week inserted the “Adoption Protection Act” into another bill dealing with adoption, House Bill 2481, and sent it over to the House.

On Thursday, though, the House declined to concur with that amendment by a vote of 64-58 and agreed instead to request a conference committee.

That prompted a sharp rebuke on Friday from the conservative Family Policy Alliance of Kansas, which issued a statement saying, “Christians in Kansas who believe the Republican-controlled legislature will uphold the values of life, family, and religious freedom need to wake up.”

Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Republican candidate for governor this year, also issued a statement calling the House’s action “disappointing,” adding: “Kansas must protect and defend religious freedom.”

After this week, lawmakers will leave for a three-week break, then return to the Capitol on Thursday, April 26, for the start of their wrap-up session.