School finance countdown

36 days: The state Supreme Court has given lawmakers until April 12 to produce a constitutional school finance plan.

Monday’s highlights

• The House Appropriations Committee recommended a budget for higher education that failed to provide a faculty pay raise. Lawmakers said they would take up the matter again during the veto session that starts April 27.
• State officials kicked off an awareness campaign designed to get more Kansans to use their seat belts. Kansas ranks 43rd nationally in seat-belt use, and only half of Kansas children ages 5 to 14 wear seat belts, according to the state. Last year in Kansas, 456 people died in vehicle crashes, and 2,000 suffered disabling injuries. State officials plan to offer community forums across the state, including one March 30 in Lawrence.

Today’s schedule

1:30 p.m.: House Transportation Committee hearing on bill requiring strobe lights on school buses.

Quote of the day

“Electioneering in 2004 that met the letter of the law, but clearly not the spirit of the law, demonstrates the need for the Right to Know legislation.”

— Rep. Ed O’Malley, R-Roeland Park, on campaign finance reform