By STEPHEN KORANDA

The clock is ticking for Kansas lawmakers to figure out a school funding solution. Briefs making the case for a plan are due to the state Supreme Court April 15.

With only one week of the regular legislative session to go, there’s still significant division over how to satisfy the court that funding is adequate and end the nearly decade-old Gannon lawsuit.

The Senate is backing Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s plan to add $360 million for schools over four years. Republican leaders in the House think the solution is in targeting more money at struggling students, but they don’t want to promise funding hikes far into the future.

The House has not in fact debated a school funding bill. Instead, the chamber approved — by only the narrowest of margins — legislation making a host of changes to school finance policy. House and Senate negotiators will discuss that policy bill next week.

The changes would require more reports on test scores and spending by individual districts. Superintendents would have to certify that sufficient resources are being directed to core curriculum and kids who are at risk of falling behind.

Republican Rep. Kristey Williams said the policy changes will ensure state dollars are spent wisely.

“Accountability is the cornerstone of all good policy,” Williams said when explaining her vote in favor of the policy bill she helped draft.

But some provisions of the bill are causing heartburn for school districts.

The legislation wouldn’t just require more reporting of school spending. It would also limit state funding for bilingual education for students learning English. The Kansas State Board of Education would be asked to determine each year how money for special education is distributed, tossing out an existing target.

The state hasn’t hit that target for special education funding in recent years, but members of the Kansas Association of School Boards don’t want to see it eliminated.

“Many districts are disappointed that we just sort of give up on that,” said KASB lobbyist Mark Tallman.

The bill includes a mix of policies the KASB opposes and supports, but Tallman said policy issues should not be the focus of lawmakers right now.

“None of the policy is as important as resolving funding,” Tallman said. “That’s a major concern.”

Plus, the policy bill isn’t likely to get a warm reception from senators eager to move on from years of litigation.

The Senate signed off on the governor’s plan more than two weeks ago — a plan that adjusts for inflation funding levels that the court said last year were nearly enough.

“The Senate’s already established its position,” Republican Sen. Molly Baumgardner said. “We established that pretty clearly.”

House Republicans do have a proposal to provide an initial infusion of cash for schools. But it doesn’t include long-term increases many believe the court will want to see.

Republican leaders called off debate on the proposal this week for lack of support, but they still believe their caucus can agree on something.

“It’s just part of the process,” House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins said. “We’ve got 84 members of our caucus and we probably have 10 or 15 different ideas out there.”

There are a few different paths legislators could take to reach a school funding solution next week.

If the House approves its own funding bill, that would spark bargaining with the Senate. Or the group of senators and House members slated to negotiate the education policy bill could decide to craft a funding agreement too.

Another option, one that House Democrats like, is to simply sign on to the governor’s proposal that passed the Senate with a bipartisan majority.

“The Senate did their job,” House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer said. “We ought to just pass what the Senate did. Get it done.”

Stephen Koranda is Statehouse reporter for the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @kprkoranda.

By Dewey Terrill

Justin Cook and Gary Ryan took home top team honors at the King Kat Tournament Trail event at Milford Lake Saturday with a total catch of 98.64 pounds. Cook, from New Franklin, Missouri and Ryan from Columbia, Missouri combined to win a total of $4,200 for their first place finish. They also had the second biggest catfish caught in the tournament at 53.42 pounds.

The winning team of Justin Cook and Gary Ryan. Among the fish they turned in were two big fish including the second biggest in the tournament.

.There were 45 two-man teams who braced the winter weather including snow, rain and a cold win to fish in the tournament. With their first place finish Cook and Ryan have qualified for the national championship event November 1st and 2nd in Decatur, Alabama.

The biggest fish was hauled in by Blake McPherren of Wakefield and Jamie Jackson of Clay Center, at 55.56 pounds.

Blake McPherren and Jamie Jackson caught the biggest fish in the tournament.

Cabela’s will host another King Kat Tournament Trail regional qualifier at Milford Lake on March 28th, 2020 and they will bring their national championship event to the lake October 30th and 31st, 2020.

DOUGLAS COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 7p.m. Saturday in Douglas County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2003 Ford Explorer drive by Telisa Sheree Walker, 41, Topeka, was westbound on Interstate 70 just east of the east Lawrence exit.

The driver lost control of the vehicle. It left the road, traveled down the embankment impacting the ground four times before coming to rest on its top. Walker was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Frontier Forensics. She was properly restrained at the time of the accdident, according to the KHP.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Court of Appeals has ordered a new trial for a man whose conviction of two rape cases divided his small northeast Kansas town.

The court on Friday said mistakes by the prosecutor denied 24-year-old Jacob Ewing of Holton a fair trial. Ewing was convicted in June 2017 of two counts of rape and several other offenses.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Ewing argued in his appeal that special prosecutor Jacqie Spradling misstated evidence in her closing arguments that inflamed the “passions of the jury.” He also argued the court made other errors in allowing some evidence in his trial.

The appeals court ruled the cumulative effect of the errors required that Ewing get a new trial.

The allegations against Ewing, a member of a well-known family, divided Holton, a town of about 3,300 residents.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — No citations have been issued in a St. Patrick’s Day Parade accident in Lawrence in which a woman tripped and was run over by a float.

A police report issued this week says officers don’t believe alcohol or drug use played a role.

The injured 41-year-old woman was taken to the University of Kansas Hospital. Neither she nor the driver of the float showed signs of impairment.

The report says the woman tripped while stepping off the curb to get beads that some people on the float were handing out. The driver told police he was looking forward and going slowly when he “felt a bump.” He said he stopped the truck and heard onlookers screaming.

The report provided no details on the woman’s injuries.

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating an aggravated assault and have three suspects in custody.

Just after 3:30p.m. Thursday, police responded to report of suspicious character with shots fired call near the 4200 Block of Regents in Wichita, according to officer Kevin Wheeler.

When officers arrived, they circulated the area and located 18-year-old Otis Horner and a teen girl in the area of 16th and Fairmount. They matched a description given during the original call, according to Wheeler. Horner and the girl fled from police and were eventually taken into custody in the 1900 Block of Holyoke. Officers recovered a handgun during the foot-pursuit.

At the time of the original call, police also responded to a walk-in shooting call at Wesley Medical Center. A 19-year-old male had arrived with a single gunshot wound to his leg. He was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, according to Wheeler. The victim remains hospitalized.

Investigators have learned that the victim was in a vehicle with an 18-year-old woman and a 20-month-old child near the intersection of Shocker and Regents. There was an argument between the occupants and Horner who was outside of the vehicle with another teen girl. Horner and the victim exchanged gunfire and the victim was wounded.

Horner is being held on requested charges of aggravated battery, aggravated assault, attempt to flee and elude, criminal discharge of a firearm and several drug charges, according to Wheeler. Police also arrested the two teen women on outstanding warrants.

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — David Boren’s appointment as president of the University of Oklahoma two decades ago was the capstone of a storied career. Born into a prominent Oklahoma political family, he became a Rhodes scholar, then governor at age 33 and later a U.S. senator respected for his expertise in intelligence.

His arrival on campus marked a heady time for the school, which set out to achieve his vision for a flagship institution.

But now, less than a year after retiring, Boren’s reputation is at risk. The 77-year-old Democrat finds himself ensnared in allegations that he sexually harassed male subordinates, and he’s on the defensive in a red state now solidly controlled by political adversaries.

The university has hired a law firm to investigate the accusations, and state authorities confirmed this week they have opened a similar probe.

Bob Burke, one of Boren’s attorneys, has characterized the inquiry as a “fishing expedition based on vicious rumors.” But at least one former student has come forward and said Boren touched him and kissed him on multiple occasions in 2010 and 2011 after he began working as Boren’s teaching aide.

The allegations by Jess Eddy, now 29, which he detailed in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press, contradict previous statements Eddy gave to investigators denying inappropriate behavior by Boren. Eddy’s new allegations were first reported on Tuesday by the online news site NonDoc.

Another Boren attorney, Clark Brewster, has dismissed Eddy’s new account, saying Eddy “was carefully examined, asked about anything that he had ever witnessed or had seen or had experienced and not only said that didn’t occur, but he gave specific factual detail as to why it couldn’t have been true.”

Eddy said he was untruthful earlier to protect Boren, but then “started to realize the implications of what I was doing by concealing my truth.”

Boren has denied any inappropriate behavior but declined a request for an interview, citing poor health, Burke said. Boren, who underwent heart surgery two years ago, suffered a minor stroke last year before stepping down.

He has two children from his first marriage and has been married to his second wife, Molly Shi Boren, for more than 40 years.

The sex abuse investigation adds to a tumultuous transition from Boren’s time at the university, during which he won widespread regard as one of the 129-year-old institution’s greatest presidents. During his 24 years at the helm, the university added dozens of new buildings, raised more than $3 billion from private donors and added an honors college and additional degree programs.

But after a new administration took over, he was suddenly accused of making the university financially unstable. His successor, James Gallogly, a retired energy industry executive chosen by a conservative-dominated board of regents, declared that he found the university was $1 billion in debt, and he quickly fired six senior administrators, including the chief financial officer.

He later forced out more after it was revealed that OU tweaked alumni donations data to improve its U.S. News & World Report college ranking.

Gallogly also scaled back several signature Boren initiatives, including tuition waivers and stipends for National Merit scholars and the university’s international studies program named in Boren’s honor.

Since then, the open rancor between the two presidents has reverberated across the state and the university’s large alumni network.

“We don’t know what to think, really,” said Alan Livingston, an OU alum and retired energy industry executive from Houston. “It bothers me very much, because I don’t like to see people that probably have the same goals for the university be on different roads.”

Boren’s political clout declined over the years as Oklahoma’s politics shifted rightward and the GOP came to hold 116 of the Legislature’s 149 seats. In 2016, he infuriated lawmakers by spearheading an unsuccessful 1-cent sales tax initiative for education funding as the Legislature cut higher education appropriations by 16 percent.

“Behind closed doors, it was a total joke in a lot of ways how inefficient higher education had become, but they still had this huge pull on the Legislature,” said former state Rep. Jason Murphey, a Republican critical of how the university’s lobbyists worked to influence his colleagues.

Burke, Boren’s attorney and longtime friend, said he believes much of the ill will stems from an ideological clash.

Boren’s “theories of government and education are … certainly more liberal than that of conservative leaders,” he said.

Disclosure of the sexual abuse allegation provided a reminder of a bizarre episode from Boren’s earlier political career. During his campaign for Senate in 1978, an obscure fringe candidate named Anthony Points publicly accused Boren of being gay. Boren responded with a news conference at the state Capitol where he swore on a family Bible that he was not gay or bisexual.

“I further swear that I have never engaged in any homosexual or bisexual activities, nor do I approve of or condone them,” Boren said at the time.

Boren went on to win the Senate seat. His son, Dan Boren, also served three terms in the U.S. House and was the last Democratic congressman from Oklahoma until Kendra Horn’s upset win last year.

At the university, many now wonder about Boren’s legacy.

Boren “was very much loved by the community,” sophomore Taylor Putman said, “especially by the students,” who appreciated his ambition for the university and flocked to the political science classes he taught.

However, amid the waves of layoffs, “I’d say there’s kind of a demoralized, uncertain, nervous atmosphere on campus,” said Rick Tepker, a longtime professor at OU’s College of Law. “I think there’s a growing awareness that Boren left us in a financial mess, and that makes people nervous.”