The 2026 budget projection for Kansas isn’t great. The state is about $480 million short of funding all of its expenses. 

There’s no need to panic, though, said Rep. Troy Waymaster, a Bunker Hill Republican. 

“There are many things that could change the projections,” he said. 

The state is not guaranteed to face a fiscal crunch, and proactive work by the Legislature can avoid doom-and-gloom scenarios. That’s why Republicans running the budget process have asked state agencies to find possible cuts of 7.5% in their agencies’ budgets. The total Kansas budget is about $23 billion. 

“I don’t particularly like the word cut,” Waymaster said. “So instead of using the words cuts or reductions, I want to say efficiencies.”

Spending fewer taxpayer dollars is more urgent because lawmakers want to pass another round of tax cuts this year. They approved $2 billion in tax cuts over five years just last session. 

Lawmakers have been reviewing the Kansas budget for weeks. Before the session started, legislative budget committees spent dozens of hours scrutinizing spending. 

Gov. Laura Kelly has told agencies to find ways to cut spending before. It’s a common budget practice, Waymaster says. But Kelly’s office is worried about the request this year. 

“A 7.5% reduction in agency budgets is significant and could jeopardize essential services, ultimately reducing the effectiveness of agencies across state government,” said Grace Hoge,  Kelly’s press secretary, in an emailed statement. “This reduction could impact critical areas such as foster care, behavioral health, infrastructure and public safety.”

Spending cuts could leave some agencies in a bind. 

The Office of the Child Advocate is one agency requesting a spending increase next year. The agency, one of the smallest departments in the state, wants to hire new staff to investigate alleged failures in the foster care system. 

Child Advocate Kerrie Lonard said her team of three investigators is already dealing with high caseloads. And these cases are complicated. Investigators need to pore over months of court proceedings and text messages between foster families and social workers. 

Lonard said she expects complaints they need to investigate will increase in coming years. 

“Do we have an anticipated number? We don’t know yet what that will look like,” she told lawmakers in mid-January. “So our enhancement request does include a request for two additional (staffers).” 

If her request is approved, the foster care watchdog agency will have more investigators. But if 7.5% of cuts are necessary, that could mean cutting a position. 

Waymaster emphasized the request doesn’t guarantee cuts are coming. Agencies need to prove their proposed spending increases are worthwhile. The Office of the Child Advocate could still get its funding increase if lawmakers see it as worth spending on. 

Waymaster said he’s talked to some agencies that found 7.5% in cuts, but the cuts would hurt government services. So his committee didn’t push for that much of a reduction. 

“We’re just asking agencies and departments to try to find efficiencies within their own departments,” he said. “It’s been alluded to as being cuts, like we’re going to go and just do a percent cut off of the budget. That is not the case.”