The Kansas budget would include the largest single-year investment in child care under the plan set out by Gov. Laura Kelly on Thursday

The governor’s recommendations are just one step in the lengthy process of setting a final budget. Proposals to expand Medicaid and invest more in special education and her tax-cut plans draw perhaps overwhelming opposition from Republicans in the Legislature. 

“The good news is I think we’ll find some consensus again on things, like water and higher education,” said Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, during the budget hearing. 

The governor’s full budget proposal is hundreds of pages long, but here are some highlights. 

Child care

Kelly wants to double the state’s child care tax credit, which she estimates will save Kansas families $6 million a year. She also wants to put $30 million toward child care capacity accelerator grants, allocate $15 million for sustainability grants and invest $5 million in a pilot program to fix child care shortages in rural northwest Kansas. 

The pilot program will also get matching private dollars. 

Rep. Troy Waymaster of Bunker Hill, the Republican chair of a key budget committee, said the state has child care deserts that need to be addressed. He hadn’t read the governor’s entire budget, but the investments he saw are worth discussing. 

Child care costs are “a burden on the Kansans across the state of Kansas,” he said. “And it is an economic development tool that we need to address.”

Education spending

Kelly’s budget would expand the Mental Health Intervention Team pilot program, a partnership between schools and mental health centers. It’s helped student attendance, grades and behaviors. 

The program exists in about 80 districts now, but the added funding would expand that to 20 more districts. 

In addition to K-12 funding, she also wants to spend $14 million for more need-based financial aid for college students. 

One-time spending

Kansas has a multibillion dollar budget surplus. Kelly has proposed multiple one-time expenses that don’t tie up the budget for years down the line. 

It includes $40 million for emergency housing programs, $17 million for a highway patrol training academy and around $500 million to cut bond debt and save the state long-term interest costs. 

Some more specific investments include $75 million to the University of Kansas Medical Center and a $15 million expansion of Fort Hays State University’s nursing workforce development program. 

State worker pay

Kelly wants to increase the minimum wage for state employees to $15 an hour. That wouldn’t increase minimum wage for private industry jobs, just state employees. 

Kelly’s plan also has 5% salary increases for state employees. 

World Cup

The World Cup is one of the largest sports tournaments in the world. Soccer teams from across the globe will play in a handful of U.S. cities in 2026, one of them being Kansas City. 

The governor’s budget has $20 million in World Cup spending. The state spent $10 million last year for facility improvements, but the money helps fund the “soft costs” of a World Cup, said Adam Proffitt, the state’s budget director. 

The World Cup isn’t coming to Kansas, but games will be played in Kansas City. 

Proffitt projected that Kansas could see $165 million in economic benefit because of the World Cup. Proffitt said the spending would be Kansas paying “what their share of those benefits would be for operational costs.” 

Waymaster, the chair of the budget committee, said he’s having a hearing in late January to talk more about the state’s investment in the World Cup. 

“I am not opposed to the World Cup coming and us putting money towards it,” he said. “However, if we’re going to be using taxpayer money, I want to have a long-term effect.”