Kan. governor to announce budget-balancing plan

Eds: UPDATES with additional background on budget problems, quotes; ADDS byline, Internet note. News conference scheduled for 11 a.m. CDT.

By JOHN HANNA

Associated Press Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Educators and officials in Kansas are awaiting word from Gov. Mark Parkinson about how he plans to balance the state budget and whether public schools will face a new round of cuts in state aid.

Parkinson scheduled a news conference on the issue Thursday. His staff would not discuss details beforehand, but the governor has said additional cuts are likely.

The state's 2010 fiscal year began Wednesday, and the budget already contains less spending financed by state tax dollars than the fiscal 2009 budget. Parkinson and legislators used federal stimulus dollars to keep the overall decline to about 3.2 percent.

State revenues in the just-completed fiscal year fell $126 million below expectations. The state has coped partly by delaying tax refunds and aid payments to public schools into July.

Legislators are out of session, but Kansas law gives Parkinson the power to impose cuts. Aid to public schools is a natural target because it consumes more than half of the state's tax revenues.

Deputy Education Commissioner Dale Dennis said many of the state's 293 school districts are keeping contract talks with teachers open because, "Everyone is waiting for the other shoe to drop."

The announcement from Parkinson, a Democrat, came the same day the federal government announced that the nation's unemployment rate hit a 26-year high in June, at 9.5 percent. The economy has created months of budget problems for Kansas and other states, and several, including California and Illinois, began their new fiscal years without spending plans in place.

Kansas' operating budget calls for spending about $5.6 billion in state revenues on government programs, but the state can't afford that amount. Nor can it end the fiscal year with a deficit.

"The economic downturn gripping the nation has now hit Kansas with full force, and state government must tighten its belt," House Speaker Mike O'Neal, a Hutchinson Republican, said before the governor's news conference. "It is time to look past one-time fixes and bring long term stability to the state's finances."

Some general government agencies already have seen double-digit cuts in spending for fiscal 2010. The state has closed minimum-security prison units and increased court fees, and state universities will increase tuition this fall.

Public schools already have lost about $124 million in state dollars. Their base aid has dropped $153 per pupil, about 3.5 percent, to $4,280.

The state had started ramping up spending on public schools in 2005 because of Kansas Supreme Court rulings in an education funding lawsuit. The state's backtracking already has inspired talk of new litigation from school districts and parents.

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On the Net:

Kansas governor: http://www.governor.ks.gov

Kansas Legislature: http://www.kslegislature.org