Tax panel advances bill to reduce statewide school mill levy to 18.5 mills with state backfill; two amendments adopted

The Kansas House Committee on Taxation on an unspecified date advanced House Bill 20-11, which would reduce the statewide ad valorem school tax levy from 20 mills to 18.5 mills and require the state to transfer funds to make school districts whole for the reduction.

The bill, introduced to the panel for consideration, would set the statewide rate at 18.5 mills and then adjust the mill levy prospectively so that the rate levied would equal the rate that generates the legislatively determined revenue, with state general-fund transfers to the state school district finance fund to cover any shortfall. "That amount would be transferred from the state general fund to the state school district finance fund," the reviser summarized when explaining the statutory cross‑references being brought into the bill (KSA 72-51-33a and related language), describing the backfill mechanism.

Why it matters: The measure changes a long-standing statutory levy that appears on local property tax bills but is set by the Legislature. Committee members pressed staff on the bill's fiscal impact and how the statutory changes would be implemented, emphasizing effects on homeowners, businesses and long‑term…