Governor Sam Brownback has until later this week to take action on a budget passed by Kansas lawmakers. It’s likely he’ll sign it into law, but as KPR’s Stephen Koranda reports, there will be some budget cutting associated with the new spending plan.
Kansas lawmakers approved a budget that isn’t balanced, with the assumption that the governor will make millions of dollars in spending cuts. The state Constitution says there must be enough revenue to cover expenses. Governor Brownback says he can make budget cuts before signing the bill into law to comply with that.
Brownback previously proposed a list of cuts to higher education and most state government agencies, but he says his final decisions could be different.
“We were laying out here’s a scenario, here’s a range of scenarios to let people know. That’s what we’ll continue to look at,” says Brownback.
Lawmakers included a provision saying those budget-balancing cuts should not include K-12 schools.