The state is expected to bring in about 4.2 percent less in 2010 than forecast in April — or $235.2 million less, the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group said.

The projected minimum budget cut doesn’t include an estimated $155 million public schools are likely to need to cover increased student populations, special education and a jump in students qualifying for free and reduced lunch. That number swells the cuts needed to balance the 2010 budget, which ends June 30, to $459 million.

Not including the additional money for schools is the equivalent to cutting about $150 from per pupil state aid, said Alan Conroy, director of the Kansas Legislative Research Department.

No matter which number is used, “it’s a tremendous hole,” said Sen. Jay Emler, R-Lindsborg, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, which handles the budget.

Either number is likely to result in more cuts to public schools.

Mark Tallman, lobbyist for the Kansas Association of School Boards, said his group has been warning members to expect cuts double or triple what they had seen previously.

That warning could make mid-year cuts easier than they would have been last year when the downturn was a surprise, but deeper cuts would affect gains in student achievement, he said.

Deeper cuts also would increase the likelihood of another lawsuit over school finance, he said.

“Probably starting this year but certainly for next year there are going to be fewer districts, fewer schools — we are already seeing that — fewer teachers, fewer days in the school calendar,” Tallman said. “It is just a question of how much.”

Despite the bad news, revenue estimators do expect the state to start to crawl out of the current slump in the next year.

“The recession in Kansas in not over in the current fiscal year but there are signs of recovery and we are anticipating those signs will increase as we get to 2011,” said Alan Conroy, director of the state Legislative Research Department.

Still, the initial revenue estimate for fiscal year 2011, which begins July 1, is $122.2 million or 2.3 percent below the current year’s revised estimate of $5.3 billion.

The 2010 budget has already gone through four rounds of cuts. The last round was ordered by Gov. Mark Parkinson, a Democrat, in early July.

In a written statement Thursday, Parkinson said again that lawmakers would face a balanced 2010 budget when they returned to Topeka for the session in January.

“I will take whatever steps are necessary to balance the 2010 budget before the Legislature returns; that is a promise I have made, and it is a promise I will keep,” Parkinson said.

He did not outline what those cuts might look like but advocated taking a “calm and measured approach.”

“These deficit numbers are challenging, but they are manageable,” he said.

Given that the budget has been cut repeatedly, some lawmakers are suggesting tax increases should be discussed.

“We are not in the same place that we were last year. We’ve made difficult and painful cuts,” said House Assistant Minority Leader Rep. Jim Ward, D-Wichita. “We have to realize and recognize that people have made sacrifices.”

If tax cuts are not considered, then the state should at least consider not reducing taxes, he said.

Emler said he expected to hear arguments on both sides of the tax question. He pointed out that increasing the income tax would not help the immediate revenue problem because the taxes would not go into effect immediately.

“I suspect there will be some pressure to do something with sales tax. Whether or not there is the will to do something with sales tax is another story,” he said.

Revenue estimators decreased the amount the state was expected to bring in 2010 by $235.2 million, or 4.2 percent below prior estimate.

The initial estimated for fiscal year 2011, which begins July 1, is $122.2 million or 2.3 percent below the current year’s revised estimated of $5.3 billion.

“The recession in Kansas in not over in the current fiscal year but there are signs of recovery and we are anticipating those signs will increase as we get to 2011,” said Alan Conroy, director of the state Legislative Research Department.

The current budget, which ends June 30, has already gone through four rounds of cuts. The last round was ordered by Gov. Mark Parkinson, a Democrat, who ordered cuts to the budget in early July shortly after the budget began.

The governor has promised that lawmakers will return to Topeka in January to a balanced budget, which means he is likely to order more cuts.

“Conservatives across this country are yearning for principled conservatives in Washington,” Ashcroft, attorney general under former President George W. Bush, said in a statement. “I feel strongly that Todd Tiahrt can help provide that common sense conservative leadership in the Senate.”

Tiahrt is seeking the Republican nomination to the seat being vacated next year by Sen. Sam Brownback, who is running for governor. Kansas Republican Rep. Jerry Moran is also seeking the seat.

Ashcroft, a former Missouri governor, served one term in the Senate. He also explored a run for president prior to the 2000 campaign.

On Thursday, the Internal Revenue Service released its list of taxpayers whose refund checks have been returned to the department. The average amount owed to Kansans is $837, a department release said.

Most often, the checks are returned because the person filing has moved for some reason, such as a college student or couples who got married or divorced, said Michael Devine, IRS spokesman for Kansas and Missouri.

In Sedgwick County, the IRS has been unable to deliver refund checks to 118 people, totaling $80,488, for an average refund of $682. That is down from 2008 when the department could not return checks to 125 people who were owed $774 on average.

In Butler County there were 10 returned checks, Harvey County had five and Sumner County had six. The IRS does not calculate an average refund in counties where fewer than 10 people are owed money.

The list only contains of people who received their refund check by mail, Devine said. Anyone questioning if they are owed money by the federal government can check the status of their refund at irs.gov. To check the status of a refund, people will need their Social Security Number, filing status and the amount of their refund.

People can also change their address online.

“It’s their money,” he said. “We are trying to get them their money and if they ask quickly, they can get it before Christmas.”

For more, read Friday’s Wichita Eagle.

Parks

Sedgwick County commissioner Kelly Parks isn’t saying a word to explain comments he made Tuesday that he had turned over some “stuff” to the FBI.

Parks made the mysterious remarks, reported first in The Eagle, during a discussion about ethics policies.

On Wednesday, he declined to talk futher about what he had turned over to the FBI. The FBI has not commented on the matter.

Parks’ colleagues on the board as well as county leaders such as manager William Buchanan say they have no idea what Parks was talking about.

Parks told The Eagle on Wednesday that he met with an FBI agent after he made his comments Tuesday and that he had been instructed not to say anything else.

Mike Huckabee’s book signing is at 10:30 a.m. at Watermark Books & Cafe at the southwest corner of Douglas and Oliver. It’s the only Kansas stop on his 60-city tour. (See an interview with TIME magazine about his book tour.)

Huckabee is the former governor of Arkansas who has also been a pastor and is now a talk show host on Fox News Channel and ABC Radio Network.

Kansas was one of the eight states he captured in the 2008 presidential primaries. He took about 60 percent of the vote. He gave a roaring stump speech and played with his band in a hangar at Col. James Jabara Airport in February 2008 where he called himself a “Wal-Mart Republican” and signed hundreds of autographs after leaving the stage.

But, in a statement this morning from state GOP Chairwoman Amanda Adkins, the party says more work is necessary before Republicans can count on big gains next year.

“President Obama won New Jersey, Virginia and New York’s 23rd District by at least 5% in 2008. The Democrats’ defeat in Virginia and New Jersey in Tuesday’s elections is an indicator that Americans want more than empty promises of hope,” Adkins wrote.

“Voters believed in Obama’s message but the change they wanted did not include a government takeover of healthcare and a so-called stimulus package that has done nothing to put Americans back to work.

“The close race in New York indicates that we still have work to do. We must educate voters on the pro-growth, pro-business platform that will achieve sweeping victory for Republicans in 2010.”

“I value my position as a senior state senator in a small group of 40,” she said in a statement. “Kansas is facing a budget crisis unlike any crisis we have faced in recent history, and it would not be right as a leader of the conservative movement to walk away from an economic downturn, or for that matter, even divert my attention away from the needs of Kansans, when the headlines in our newspapers are about our governor considering a tax increase.”

Wagle said her endorsement of Pompeo, a Republican national committeeman, was not intended to be disrespectful of or derogatory toward two fellow senators who are seeking the seat, Dick Kelsey and Jean Schodorf.

Wagle said she respected both senators.

“However, for the daunting task that lies ahead in Washington, we need someone who stands out above the crowd. Someone who will be recognized instantly as a leader. Someone who has the ability to guide and influence others on our behalf, who has inner strength, and strong convictions,” she said in endorsing Pompeo.

Pompeo is president of Sentry International, an oilfield supply company, and former CEO of Thayer Aerospace.

Five candidates are seeking the Republican nomination for the seat now held by Rep. Todd Tiahrt, who is running for U.S. Senate: Pompeo, Kelsey, Schodorf and businessmen Jim Anderson and Wink Hartman.

State Rep. Raj Goyle and etired court services officer Robert Tillman are contending for the Democratic nomination.

Wagle, who has battled cancer in the past, also said she was given a clean bill of health two weeks ago.

“The big C has a way of refocusing people,” she said in the statement. “Cancer patients tend to evaluate how best to make the most of every moment they have left, whether it is 10 days or 10 years. Through this experience, I have decided my time and my political expertise are best spent here in Kansas.”

UPDATE:

Pompeo reacts in a statement:  “I really am humbled today to have garnered the support of someone with the conservative credentials of Susan Wagle. Senator Wagle has long stood for fiscal responsibility in the Kansas legislature, and I know the people of Kansas are going to be served well by her remaining in that important role.”

Hartman reacts in a statement:  Today, one career politician endorsed another political insider. Republicans are now powerless in Washington because career politicians and political insiders said one thing and then did another. If we want our government to change, then we have to stop sending those same career politicians to Washington.

Wagle

State Sen. Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, plans to announce whether she’ll enter the expanding race for the 4th District Congressional seat today.

The announcement is at 2 p.m. at the Wichita Area Builders Association.

(Update: Wagle endorsed Mike Pompeo.)

Ethics investigators are said to be looking at the ties between campaign contributions and earmarks that benefit clients of the lobbying firm, the PMA Group.

The subcommittee in question controls spending by the Pentagon.

The probe includes a review of the actions of the chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on defense, John P. Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat long criticized for his devotion to earmarks and pork-barrel spending.

Tiahrt faces a tough 2010 U.S. Senate primary fight against fellow Republican Congressman Jerry Moran.

No word yet from Tiahrt’s office.

Here’s more from the Washington Post.