JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Employee turnover at Kansas prisons has increased over the past five years, and the state’s corrections secretary and legislators agree that officers’ pay must rise if the state hopes to end a problem that’s now seen as a threat to public safety.

But a legislative committee’s endorsement last week of higher wages for uniformed officers raises potentially contentious questions about how to pay for them.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback has ruled out further tax increases since he and the GOP-dominated Legislature raised sales and cigarette taxes in July to close an earlier shortfall.

Brownback’s stance — and many Republican lawmakers’ lack of interest in another tax debate — could force the Legislature into considering spending cuts elsewhere, perhaps even in aid to public schools, to boost pay for corrections officers.