Home Local . Members of the Kansas House marked time Wednesday while a small group of lawmakers scrambled to craft a school spending bill the Senate might accept. Efforts to develop a bill that would increase spending for public schools have bogged down progress toward adjournment of the 2001 Legislature. On Wednesday the group looked at a variety of ways to raise money for the state's school districts.
Nothing is discounted.
Umbarger said the goal was to have a plan before his Education Committee by noon today. A House-Senate negotiating committee working on a budget compromise called off its bargaining sessions until later today, giving the Senate time to consider new school financing legislation if the Education Committee could come up with a plan. Lawmakers reconvened April 25 for a wrap-up session that usually lasts only three or four days. By Wednesday they were into their eighth day with no end in sight. Senate President Dave Kerr, a Hutchinson Republican, said the session should have been completed in 90 days.