Kansas lawmakers pass school funding fix to avert shutdown

(AP) — Kansas legislators passed an education funding plan Friday after top Republicans rewrote it to gain broad, bipartisan support to satisfy a court mandate and end a looming threat that public schools across the state might shut down.

With Kansas facing an ongoing budget crunch, lawmakers avoided increasing overall state spending by diverting money from other corners of state government to schools.

The new plan from top Republicans relies less on reshuffling of existing education funds than a previous GOP plan.

Besides bipartisan support, the plan had endorsements from school districts that both stood to gain and lose some aid.

The new plan taps motor vehicle fees, dips into the state's share of a national legal settlement with tobacco companies in the 1990s and captures funds from selling off the assets of a state economic development agency to private investors.