By JOHN MILBURN

Associated Press

TOPEKA -- A Senate leader said Tuesday that it's unlikely Republican Gov. Sam Brownback's proposal overhauling how money is distributed to Kansas schools will come to a vote before an important deadline, but that doesn't mean it's in trouble.

Friday is the last day in this year's legislative session for bills in certain committees to clear their chamber of origin.

Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Jean Schodorf said there were simply too many questions being asked about Brownback's plan and alternatives being offered to rush it through.

"Anytime you have something as different as this it takes a lot of time and discussion," she said.

But Schodorf, a Wichita Republican, also said Brownback's plan isn't dead and shouldn't be taken as being in trouble. She said she would ask Senate leaders to grant an exception to the governor's proposal to keep it alive this session.

"I believe in seeing how far we can get with it," she said of the governor's plan.

It would give the 286 school districts a flat rate of $4,492 per student starting in the 2013-14 school year, while eliminating the special add-ons, or weightings, given to students with specific demographics, such as being limited English speakers.

The governor's plan holds the districts harmless, meaning they wouldn't see their state aid reduced, but future increases would be tied closer to school boards' decisions to raise property taxes.

Sen. Steve Abrams, an Arkansas City Republican and former State Board of Education member, offered two "conceptual" amendments that would have given schools more money. The first would have provided extra funding for teaching students who are deemed at risk of failure academically.

The second would have allowed counties to raise a local sales tax for education to be shared with all school districts within the county. Abrams said the idea was to spread the tax base and avoid putting the burden for education funding at the local level entirely on property owners.

Neither concept was voted on by the committee Tuesday.

Brownback's staff has said the governor is open to amendments and alternatives as legislators debate the plan. However, Sen. Alan Schmidt, a Hays Democrat, said the more the debate progressed, the more senators tried to keep the formula the same.

"It appears to me we're taking all kinds of routes to get back to where we started," he said.

Schodorf said the committee would consider other proposals in the coming weeks to put more money in education in the coming year, including a Democratic proposal for $45 million. The money would come from growth in state revenues.