TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly denounced across-the-board spending reductions ordered by the Kansas Legislature that sliced $189,000 from the Kansas School for the Deaf and $124,000 from the Kansas School for the Blind.

The Kansas Adjutant General’s Office lost $118,000 because of the budget mandate, while the Kansas Office of Veterans Services was nicked for $64,000.

It was all part of the $7.1 million reduction required by a bill approved by the House and Senate that took effect Tuesday with start of the state government’s new fiscal year. The Legislature mandated the governor take the money out of state general fund operating expenditures, which included agency salaries, contractual services, commodities and capital expenses.

Kelly said the Legislature’s preference for blanket reductions, rather than precision adjustments, was flawed because the result was “neither targeted nor thoughtful.”

“As governor, I have worked to get Kansas back on the right fiscal track and provide Kansans with the resources they need to prosper without risking the future of the state,” Kelly said. “I share the Legislature’s goal to reduce spending where possible and to increase efficiency in state government. However, the Legislature’s mandate to cut state agencies’ budgets across the board is not the way to increase efficiency.”

Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican who is a candidate for state insurance commissioner, said the governor was wrong to oppose what he viewed as the “small 1.5%” reduction in spending decreed by Senate Bill 125.

The House voted 89-36 for the bill and Senate approved it by a margin of 24-16.

Kelly said the Legislature compelled her to strip millions of dollars from state agencies managing programs that were “vital lifelines to the most vulnerable Kansans.”

The cuts required of the governor took the biggest bite out of the Kansas Department for Children and Families by stripping $2.2 million from the agency. The second-largest loser in the Legislature’s budget was the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, which lost $1 million.

Taken together, the two agencies serving children, seniors and people with disabilities absorbed 44% of the reduction because a larger portion of their budgets came from the state general fund.

Hawkins, who controls the debate calendar in the House, said Kelly didn’t present options for shrinking state spending to the 2025 Legislature.

“This year the Legislature forced her hand with a small 1.5% across-the-board reduction,” Hawkins said. “I challenge Governor Kelly to come to the table before next session with meaningful ideas on how to make government agencies more efficient and reduce spending.”

He said if Kelly declined to present the 2026 Legislature with potential steps for lowering expenditures, “you can expect to see another across-the-board reduction.”

Typically, the starting point for annual budget debates in Kansas would be a governor’s recommended budget. GOP legislative leadership departed from precedent by establishing a special committee that drafted a budget bill for consideration by the 2025 Legislature. The objective was to set aside Kelly’s preferences so House and Senate members could concentrate on their objectives.

The final budget bill approved by the Legislature included the 1.5% across-the-board cut to state general fund expenditures.

Other reductions above $100,000 to meet the Legislature’s directive: Kansas Board of Indigents Defense Services, $919,000; Kansas Department of Health and Environment, $799,000; Office of Information Technology Services, $247,000; Kansas Department of Education, $314,000; Kansas Department of Revenue, $266,000; Kansas Department of Agriculture, $219,000; Kansas Department of Administration, $146,000; and Kansas Department of Labor, $142,000.

And, cuts to agencies with annual budgets at or below $5 million: Kansas Historical Society, $75,000; Office of the Governor, $73,000; Kansas State Library, $45,000; Kansas Board of Tax Appeals, $22,000; Kansas Guardianship Program, $21,000; Kansas Human Rights Commission, $18,000; Kansas Office of Child Advocate, $11,000; Kansas Public Disclosure Commission, $8,000; and Kansas Department of Commerce, $2,000.