photo by: Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector

Senate Majority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Lenexa Democrat, seen here on Jan. 13, 2025, attempted to add to into the Senate's budget bill more funding for special education. (

TOPEKA — The Kansas Senate on Tuesday approved a modified state budget, sending it back to the House so both chambers can agree on a shared plan.

Senators slightly modified the House proposal, which is formally titled Senate Sub for Sub for House Bill 2007, during extensive debate Tuesday to fund $3 million in tax credits and earmark a handful of projects.

The budget bill passed the Senate 28-12 almost along party lines, save for Republican Sens. Renee Erickson of Wichita and Caryn Tyson of Parker, who joined Democrats in voting against it.

The Senate declared an emergency to take final action on the budget bill, forgoing the typical day between a debate and a vote.

Embedded within the Senate’s budget are a number of what Republicans say are cost-cutting measures. Among them: eliminating continuous Medicaid eligibility for parents and caregivers, mandating state employees who work remotely return to the office and incentivizing state agencies to abandon diversity, equity and inclusion programs and policies.

Erickson said that while the budget was a good start in reducing government spending, the cuts simply weren’t enough.

“While I think that this budget is a vast improvement over what we’ve seen before, to me, we still have a huge spending problem,” Erickson said.

The $25 billion spending plan for the state cleared the Senate after four days of committee hearings last week. More than $10.5 billion of the total comes from the State General Fund.

House lawmakers debated the bill for about a month after it was introduced on the first day of the session. They forwarded it to the Senate in late February. A select group of legislators began the budget process in late 2024.

During Tuesday’s debate in the Senate, Sen. Cindy Holscher, an Overland Park Democrat, attempted to insert into the budget more funding for special education with a plan to unlock federal aid by expanding Medicaid.

The state for years has failed to meet its statutory obligation to fully fund the special education needs of public school kids. Less funding for special education means more diversions from general education funding to mitigate the gap.

“We have a problem here,” Holscher said. “We are not fully funding (special education).”

She cited Medicaid expansion as a way to bring in $1.2 billion in annual funding to offset added costs for funding special education. The amendment failed on a 29-9 vote.

Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Lenexa Democrat, called the special education shortfall a “disgrace.”

In the House’s version of the budget bill, lawmakers proposed a $10 million enhancement to special education bringing the roughly $601 million starting base to about $611 million. The Senate during the hearing process dropped the allocation back to $601 million.

Sykes attempted to insert a $21 million enhancement, an amount that still remains below the fully funded threshold. The amendment failed on a 26-12 vote. Republican Sens. Jeff Klemp of Lansing, TJ Rose of Olathe and Brad Starnes of Manhattan voted with Democrats in favor of the amendment.

The House and Senate eventually must agree on a final product before the budget can become law.

In years past, lawmakers work from the governor’s proposed budget. Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, proposed in January a $26.3 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2026, which begins July 1. This year, the governor’s budget proposal, which includes Medicaid expansion and full funding for special education, had limited influence over the Republican-controlled Legislature.

• Anna Kaminski is a reporter with the Topeka-based news service Kansas Reflector.