Brownback Offers School Finance Reform Plan

Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration is offering plans to reform Kansas’ public school finance formula.

The proposal includes setting a new baseline for state aid, giving block grants to districts and allowing counties to vote on a special sales tax for education.

The proposals were discussed Wednesday at a public forum in Topeka.

Policy director Landon Fulmer says the proposal would allow the state to claim part of the money collected from a 20-mill local property tax collected for schools. That money would put in a state account and distributed to equalize financing in districts with low property valuations.

And he says a state cap on local option property taxes would be eliminated, but state funding of special education programs would not change.