By GAYLE WEBER

gweber@dailynews.net

There's so much to do in the coming legislative session, Rep. Eber Phelps, D-Hays, isn't sure how much actually will get done.

With proposals on the table to eliminate certain taxes, draw new district boundaries, revamp SRS and overhaul school finance, just to name a few, Phelps said the Legislature could have difficulty getting to each issue.

"The governor's put out a whole slate of things he wants to address. ... It just seems to me that they're chewing off a big chunk to address all in one session," said Phelps, in his 16th year in the Kansas House.

Phelps' priority will be education funding. He's beginning his 14th year on the House Education Committee and said he doesn't think the current funding formula for school districts is broken, just underfunded, noting he didn't vote for the 2012 budget because of the cuts legislators made to school funding.

Gov. Sam Brownback has proposed a base state aid per pupil provided by the state, with additional funding coming from local property tax levies. The proposal also eliminates weightings, which are used to compensate districts with at-risk and low income students.

"I am very concerned when I hear them say the school finance formula is broken, I think we're setting ourselves up for another lawsuit," Phelps said. "I think we need to fund it. ... We're at 1995 levels. We need to get back to where we were a few years ago."

Other issues Phelps sees being talked about during the legislative session that begins Monday are retirement plan funding, corrections issues, discussion of Brownback's proposal to possibly eliminate corporate and individual income taxes and, of course, redistricting.

With the 2010 census out, population shifts are requiring the Legislature to redraw district boundaries.

"They talk about it being a nonpartisan thing, but I think it's going to bog the session down, maybe not so much in the House, but definitely in the Senate because you've got a lot of challenged races there already," Phelps said.

The Legislature did not pass a 2012 budget until its 90th day of the 90-day session in 2011. That's the same day a 2011 budget recision bill passed as well as the omnibus appropriations bill, Phelps said. Because of the delays in coming to agreement last year, Phelps doesn't expect early progress this year.

"It's not unlike any other session where you have a lot to do, but when you're talking about a major overhaul, I think we may find some difficulty getting it done," Phelps said.