By JIM MCLEAN

The cast of characters may be new, but the script taking shape at the outset of the Kansas Legislature’s 2019 session rings familiar.

The new governor — Democrat Laura Kelly — proposes a budget that pays for her priorities. It highlights things that she believes her election shows that voters also want. Republican legislative leaders respond with what amounts to, Thanks, but we’ve got a better handle on what Kansans want.

Such give and take is typical at the start of a session, but this year’s is sharper because Kelly is a Democrat and the leaders of the Legislature are virtually all conservative Republicans.

The sharpness of those differences is evident when comparing the State of the State speech that Kelly delivered to lawmakers Wednesday to the Republican response given by Senate President Susan Wagle.

Our #Republican response to Governor Kelly’s State of the State address.#ksleghttps://t.co/t342cpqNGT

— Susan Wagle (@SenatorWagle) January 17, 2019

On school Finance

Kelly called on lawmakers to fully fund the state’s public schools by complying with a Kansas Supreme Court order and boosting the funding package passed last year to cover inflation. It’s estimated that would cost an additional $364 million over the next four years.

● Kelly: “The days of doing the bare minimum to fund our schools are over. It stops now. We are going to properly fund our schools this year. And next year. And the year after that. Every year, every month, every day that I’m governor.”

● Wagle: “(Kelly) would have us surrender to the edict of an unelected Supreme Court spending even more than the $1 billion increase already approved for public education through the year 2023.”

On Medicaid expansion

The governor said the budget she’s proposing will “pave the way” for expanding KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program, to cover an additional 150,000 low-income, disabled and elderly Kansans.

She argues that the rejection of expansion by former Republican governors Sam Brownback and Jeff Colyer cost the state billions and put rural hospitals at risk. So she’s forming a bipartisan working group to “finalize a path forward.”

● Kelly: “To date, our failure to act has cost Kansas over $3 billion in federal funding. That’s 3 billion of our taxpayer dollars we’ve sent to the federal government that has gone to benefit other states. It’s $3 billion that could have helped save Kansas lives, Kansas hospitals, and Kansas communities.”

● Wagle: “Governor Kelly has proposed expanding Medicaid under a broken Obamacare system while many Kansans are already suffering from skyrocketing premiums in the individual marketplace. Now is not the time to spend money we don’t have on programs we can’t afford.”

The Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare, requires the federal government to cover no less than 90 percent of a state’s expansion costs.

Competing priorities

One of the top priorities for Republicans is the return of what they’ve labeled “the federal windfall.” That’s money that flowed into the state treasury because of changes Congress made in the federal tax code in 2017.

GOP leaders appear determined to quickly restore state tax deductions that some Kansans can no longer claim because of the federal changes. Not doing so, they say, would amount to a tax increase.

● Wagle: “The windfall from the Trump tax cuts belongs to Kansas taxpayers, not government. Gov. Kelly has vowed to fight the decoupling of federal and state tax deductions, but we are not backing down.”

Kelly isn’t spoiling for a fight. But she’s urging caution because of the bill’s estimated $90 million annual cost. She argues it would be more prudent to get a firmer grip on the state’s revenue situation before passing what she sees as a tax cut.

● Kelly: “We must be cautious, conservative and fiscally responsible. We must live within our means. Prioritize what matters most. Always look for ways to save. And always make sure our children come first.”

Kelly saved her strongest language for what she called the “reprehensible crisis” in the state’s foster care system. She pledged to restructure the Department of Children and Families to address chronic problems that resulted in the agency losing track of some children while failing to protect others from abuse. She called it a matter of “life and death.”

● Kelly: “In the last few years, nothing has made me more angry than the callous disregard some agency leaders demonstrated towards our vulnerable children and their families. The incompetence and lack of transparency we witnessed … put a spotlight on this reprehensible crisis. This is an emergency. These are our children in our communities facing abuse, neglect and worse.”

Kelly’s call for overhauling the foster care system brought both Democrats and Republicans to their feet in applause. Wagle and other GOP leaders say they’re willing to work with the governor to address the problems. But they warn that the money needed to fix them, when combined with Kelly’s other spending priorities, could put the state back in the red.

● Wagle: “The Republican majority in the Kansas Senate stands ready to work with our former Senate colleague, but not at the expense of Kansas families. Unfortunately, Governor Kelly’s first budget would squander our fiscal recovery with a massive spending increase.”

Reminding lawmakers of the “breathtaking years of crisis” caused by Brownback’s 2012 income tax cuts, Kelly said she was elected to “rebuild our state.” But, she said, she has no intention of spending down the state’s recovering balances or breaking her “no tax increase” pledge.

Reconciling her priorities with those of the Republican-led Legislature, Kelly said, will require a kind of bipartisan cooperation that has recently been in short supply at the Statehouse.

● Kelly: “While the time for fingerpointing is over, we’re not off the hook for the long-term consequences of past policy decisions. If we are going to succeed, I need your help to protect both sides of the budget equation until our fiscal health stabilizes. As many of you have already said, we must show restraint. Because, ultimately, we do not know what lies ahead.”

Jim McLean is the senior correspondent for the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks.

LINCOLN COUNTY – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), along with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, asks anyone with information related to the disappearance of Glenna Bullard to come forward.

Bullard is a white female, 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighing approximately 180 pounds. She has brown hair, and green eyes.

Bullard was last seen in the area of Kansas Highway 18, and Kansas Highway 14 in Lincoln, Kan. on Nov. 1, 2017.

She was rumored to have headed to Texas, but made no contact with relatives in Texas. Bullard was seen traveling in a blue, single-cab pickup around the time of her disappearance.

Law enforcement are concerned for her welfare, and ask anyone with information about Bullard’s disappearance to contact the KBI at 1-800-KS-CRIME. Callers may remain anonymous.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A black student is suing a Kansas school district, alleging that she was told she couldn’t perform with a school dance team during a school event because her skin was “too dark.”

Camille Sturdivant alleges in a lawsuit against the Blue Valley School District that she suffered racial discrimination and was ostracized from dance team events after she complained about how she was treated because of her race.

Sturdivant graduated in May 2018 from Blue Valley Northwest High School, where she was one of two black students on the 14-member Dazzlers dance team.

She also contends the dance team’s coach was fired last year because of racial comments she made about Sturdivant.

The school district said in a statement that it doesn’t tolerate discrimination.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s proposed budget embraces a proposal to phase in a $364 million increase in funding for public schools over four years.

The Democratic governor also proposed Thursday to spend $14 million during the budget year beginning in July to expand the state’s Medicaid health coverage for the needy.

As Kelly outlined her budget proposals to legislators, she warned against pursing changes in tax laws. Income tax relief is a top priority for Republican leaders.

The education proposal is the State Board of Education’s plan for complying with a Kansas Supreme Court order last year.

Kelly proposed lowering annual payments to pensions for teachers and government workers. She also would take three years to end an ongoing diversion of highway funds to general government programs.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — A judge has found sufficient evidence for a Kansas man to stand trial in the killing of a confidential drug informant whose body was found by deer hunters.

Steven Meredith, of Junction City, was bound over for trial Wednesday on charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the death of 48-year-old Carrie Jones.

During the preliminary hearing, witnesses testified that Meredith believed Jones might reveal information about him and others in a 2013 drug-related case. One witness testified that Meredith told her that he and another man drove Jones to a field, forced her to get out of the vehicle and then shot her.

He was arrested almost a year after her body was found in October 2017 in rural Riley County.

DENVER (AP) — A professional bull rider died after a bull stomped on his chest during a competition at the National Western Stock Show in Denver.

The Professional Bull Riders say Mason Lowe died Tuesday evening after being taken to a hospital. Group spokesman Andrew Giangola said he was wearing a mandated protective vest.

The 25-year-old from Exeter, Missouri, was ranked 18th in the world.

He was injured while coming out of a chute on a bull weighing about 1,700 pounds and attempting to stay on for eight seconds.

A witness told KCNC-TV that Lowe fell off and was stomped as he tried to get up.

Professional Bull Riders CEO Sean Gleason says the group and the stock show extend sympathies to Lowe’s family.