(KAIR)--Nearly twenty people gathered in Atchison's Santa Fe Depot Saturday morning for a chance to meet with two of their state legislators.

Democratic State Representative Jerry Henry, and Republican State Senator Dennis Pyle were on hand to discuss the variety of issues currently being addressed in Topeka, including judicial and election reform and possible changes to conceal and carry laws. However, it was the current state of the budget and education funding that received some of the most attention.

Pyle said that some of the problems regarding the budget comes from a law that has not been followed, stating that legislators are required to have a seven and a half percent ending balance. He adds that “If the legislature would stick to following that law, we would not have a problem this year. But it's because they don't want to address the problems last year, and they spent more than what the revenue was going to be, that we now have to have a rescission bill. Revenue did not meet what consensus revenue estimates said they were going to be. We still have more revenue than we did a year ago, we just have not met the estimates”.  

Atchison resident Bill Murphy says that he had some questions for Pyle related to the projected $344 million budget shortfall. His “biggest concern is how much money is actually lost by reducing the income tax”. He says that Pyle is blaming the income tax reduction for the shortfall. However, Murphy adds that he believes, as Pyle does, that the reason for the shortfall can be blamed on the economy.

Henry addressed the current problem with education funding, saying that Governor Sam Brownback wants to repeal the current school funding formula, but legislators do have questions regarding what a new school funding policy would look like. He asks “What happens to all the requirements...as to what we have to teach students?” He also said there are questions regarding the requirements of caps on property tax increases. If legislators freeze or repeal the current formula, and there is no new law in place, then maybe school districts can raise whatever property or raise any fees they choose.

There are two more forums scheduled to take place during this legislative session, with the next one set for March 7th.