Topeka ? Some school superintendents are unimpressed with House and Senate plans for increasing education spending within existing state revenues, viewing those proposals as inadequate.

The House’s plan would provide an additional $113 million during the fiscal year beginning July 1. The Senate’s proposal is worth $145 million.

Both measures increase spending on special education, bilingual education and programs for at-risk children, all concerns cited by the Kansas Supreme Court in a January ruling. Both also increase general aid to all school districts, though in differing amounts.

But Baldwin Superintendent James White, called them “ludicrous, laughable, comical, farcical and ridiculous.”

South Barber Superintendent Bob Hightree said: “They can’t be serious, but the sad thing is, I am afraid they are.”

The Supreme Court has given legislators until April 12 to increase annual aid to schools beyond the current $2.7 billion and distribute the dollars more fairly.

“I don’t believe either of these plans are what the Supreme Court intended,” said Superintendent Gary Kraus of Pike Valley schools in Republic County. “The amount of new money is far from adequate.”

The House approved its plan Friday on a 78-44 vote. Senators approved their proposal Thursday, 29-10. The final version of an education funding bill will be drafted by negotiators, who are expected to begin their work next week.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said Friday approval of the two plans represent only “a baby step” because both plans cover only one year and provide no new revenues.

But House Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka, said legislators can adopt a plan that satisfies the Kansas Supreme Court without increasing taxes, a goal of GOP leaders.

Both proposals would tap existing revenues and cash reserves to finance the new spending for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Mays also noted that the House measure contains provisions designed to increase spending on schools in future years.

One provision in the House proposal requires the state’s base aid per pupil, now set at $3,863, to increase by the rate of inflation each year. Another would give public schools first claim to state dollars, meaning other programs would be shorted if money ran out.

Mays said an improving economy will provide additional revenues and that House members will propose reductions in the state budget Sebelius submitted in January. He said House members will likely trim $100 million from her $11.3 billion spending plan for the next fiscal year.

“It is a multiyear plan, with the ‘education first’ portion of it,” Mays said during a news conference. “There’s nothing to say that we might not put extra dollars in later on, depending on how well the economy does.”

Sebelius and her fellow Democrats are skeptical the state can improve education funding without new revenues. Last year, Sebelius offered a plan raising sales and income taxes, allowing the state to take three years to phase in a $310 million increase in annual spending. Lawmakers rejected it.

“One of the things the justices pointed the Legislature to, is not only specific areas of inadequacy but continuous improvement,” Sebelius told reporters before the House vote. “I think funding a school plan with just one year or having a one-year strategy doesn’t indicate that we have interest in going beyond kindergarten.”