Gov. Laura Kelly is taking a cautious approach to spending taxpayer money. 

Her proposed budget for Kansas anticipates just a 0.7% increase on the already approved 2025 budget. As a result, the state can’t afford large increases in government services. 

The Legislature passed a $2 billion tax cut last year. The full impact of that cut won’t be known until at least April when tax filing ends, and possibly October when extended filing ends. Then there are decreasing budget projections going forward. 

Adam Proffitt, the state’s budget director, said the ending balance in fiscal year 2028 and 2029 will drop “pretty substantially … absent of course correction.”

“That’s a large part of why the governor is so focused on minimizing the spending increases,” Proffitt said. 

Republicans aren’t rushing to spend state dollars either. Lawmakers have held budget hearings for the past few months where they’ve regularly questioned proposed increases from some agencies. 

The governor’s full Kansas budget proposal is online. Her priorities include more funding for water preservation and more money to help families on medical wait lists. 

Here’s a look at key proposals in her budget: 

Medicaid expansion 

Kelly has proposed expanding Medicaid again. It’s an annual priority for the Democratic governor, who wants to expand health care access for 150,000 Kansans. Forty states plus Washington, D.C., have expanded Medicaid already. That includes every state that borders Kansas. 

Kelly contends Medicaid expansion would pay for itself. Expanding Medicaid opens the door for federal dollars to trickle into Kansas. In her State of the State address, she said Kansas missed out on $280 million from 2022 through 2025. 

“Imagine the property tax relief we could have given to Kansans,” Kelly said. 

Medicaid expansion is well-supported by Kansans — 72.4% think it should be expanded, according to the 2024 Kansas Speaks survey. 

Expansion has stalled because of Republican leadership. Speaker of the House Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said it would actually cost Kansas money. It also would give people fewer reasons to work because they already have health care, he added. 

“There’s no version that I would support,” Hawkins told the Kansas News Service last year. 

The Kansas Senate tried to force a vote on the bill last year. The vote passed 18-17, but it needed 24 votes to be considered by the full chamber. 

Child care

Kelly proposed $10 million for a child care capacity accelerator grant. That grant program has helped open 5,655 new child care slots across the state, but it previously got $55 million in one-time funding. Kelly wants to continue to support the program. 

Child Care Aware of Kansas estimates the state is about 80,000 slots short of meeting the need for child care. The agency said there are only enough child care providers for 45% of the state. 

Education 

Kelly’s K-12 proposals include some expected expenses, like fully funding special education. Democrats contend Kansas is not providing enough money to help school districts pay for special education services.

The state must pay for 92% of special education services, state law says. Kelly contends the state will only pay an estimated 75.4% in 2025. Her budget proposes five years of increases to get Kansas to that 92% figure. 

Republicans disagree that Kansas isn’t paying enough. They say schools are provided enough funds to cover the costs. 

Kelly also wants to provide free meals to nearly 36,000 Kansas students. 

These students are on reduced-price lunch plans already, but there is a copay to get the meal. It’s 40 cents for lunch and 30 cents for breakfast. Kelly wants the state to chip in $5.5 million to eliminate that copay.

She also proposed a $2 million expansion of the University of Kansas Medical Center medical student loan program and $2.2 million for an osteopathic medical services scholarship.