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Kansas Lawmakers Delay Work on Education Funding

Kansas lawmakers have delayed committee work on education funding bills.

The legislation is being taken up in response to a state Supreme Court ruling that determined there are unconstitutional funding disparities between school districts.

House and Senate committees had been expected to work on the bills on Monday.

Republican Senator Ty Masterson, from Andover, says his committee is not yet in a position to begin work.

"So I think there's just this buzz on how do we respond, and you've got 165 different opinions of what that response should be," Masterson says. "And I'm a little nervous just opening it wide open for everybody without some semblance of where you might want to go."

Democrats are concerned that other education issues will be worked into any solution.

Lawrence Representative Paul Davis, who's running for governor against Republican Sam Brownback, says lawmakers should just pay the $129 million the court says is needed and be done with it.

"This is a no-brainer of sorts. I don't know why it's so difficult to deal with the issue that's been outlined here," says Davis.

July 1st is the deadline to craft a solution, but the goal of many legislators is make progress on a plan before the end of next week, when lawmakers start a month-long break.

Stephen Koranda is the managing editor of the Kansas News Service, based at KCUR. He has nearly 20 years of experience in public media as a reporter and editor.