Kansas governor's budget has fellow Republicans in revolt
Source: AP
Departing Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is counting on growing tax revenues from a strong national economy to pay for his proposal to increase spending on public schools, stoking an open revolt Wednesday among fellow Republicans who control the Legislature.
The term-limited conservative Republican governor released budget proposals that were supposed to flesh out his plan to phase in a $601 million increase in education funding to meet a court mandate. But his recommendations contained no way to pay for the increase other than relying on growing revenues, and no fiscal projections beyond mid-2019.
Top GOP lawmakers already were upset by the idea even before Brownback outlined his school funding proposal in his eighth and final State of the State address Tuesday evening. They fear they would be forced to consider raising taxes or making deep cuts elsewhere while also shorting public pensions and highway projects next year, when Brownback is out of office.
"I'm not sure what the logic is behind it," said state Sen. Ty Masterson, a conservative Wichita-area Republican and usual ally of Brownback. "That's irresponsible, to propose that much new spending without understanding where it's coming from."
Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/kansas-governor-counting-growth-cover-extra-school-aid-172030589.html
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