The Kansas legislature made a strong push Saturday night to set a final plan for the state’s budget and find ways to close up the estimated $290 million deficit.
While House and Senate negotiators agreed to protect K-12 education funding, there did appear to be other caveats to the budget proposal.
READ: Kansas lawmakers reconvene to tackle budget shortfalls
The proposed tax cuts include an estimated $17 million in funding for higher education. Such cuts means KU alone could lose more than $5 million, with K-State losing closer to $4 million and Wichita State around $2 million.
Governor Sam Brownback stated earlier that he would take $185 million from the state highway fund, which would delay 25 new road projects in the state.
Another way to make up for the budget crisis would be to delay state employee pensions.
The current plan delays $99 million in state employee pensions due this spring, possibly through June of 2018. In order to repay the pensions, Kansas would designate future surplus revenue towards that purpose and could also use funds from the state’s tobacco settlement.
Brownback is also expected to make unspecified spending cuts after July 1 in order to keep the state’s budget balanced.
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Josh Helmuth can be reached at josh.helmuth@kshb.com
