Kansas state employees could get pay raise, minimum wage increase in 2025 budget

TOPEKA (KSNT) - Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has rolled out her next budget for fiscal year 2025 on Thursday as the current legislative session begins.

Kelly's budget places emphasis in several key areas of interest such as public schooling, Medicaid expansion and child care. These have remained high priority areas for Kelly throughout her tenure as the state's governor.

“I’m a fiscal conservative, which is why, once again, I’m proposing a budget that’s balanced, pays off debt, and includes tax cuts for working families and retirees,” Kelly said. “This budget also delivers on my commitment to continue fully funding schools, investing in our workforce and child care system, and giving law enforcement the resources they need to keep Kansans safe.”

The budget consists of recommendations from Kelly for FY 2025. Some highlights of the budget can be found below:

Tax issues

On Jan. 8, Kelly unveiled several big plans for tax cuts in Kansas. She said her plan will save Kansans more than $1 billion in the next three years, eliminate the state tax on Social Security, exempt the first $100,000 in state property taxes for all homeowners, increase the standard deduction for personal income taxes and more.

Medicaid expansion

Kelly has tried to expand Medicaid in Kansas since she became governor back in 2018. Her current budget will allot more than $1 billion in taxpayer cash back to Kansas which she claims is being sent to other states. Expanding Medicaid would grant affordable healthcare to more than 150,000 Kansans and cut down on healthcare costs for others, according to the Office of the Governor.

Early childhood care

Kelly's FY 2025 budget provides more than $56 million to expand child care slots and support the child care workforce in the Sunflower State. Almost $30 million is dedicated to building new child care facilities with $5 million slotted for a pilot program in northwest Kansas to provide a model for how public-private partnerships can improve child care in rural parts of the state.

K-12 schools

Kelly claims her new budget will fully fund K-12 public schools in the state for the sixth year in a row. This will also put Kansas on track to fully fund special education within five years so every district has the statutorily required resources to educate all students.

Higher education investment

More than $230 million is earmarked to support postsecondary institutions' efforts to drive workforce development and bring costs down for Kansas students. Higher education institutions will get one-time funding to enhance their core programs with $75 million for the construction of the University of Kansas Cancer Center, $25 million for the Kansas State University Ag Innovation Initiative and $15 million for nursing education at Fort Hays State University.

Foster care

Kelly says her budget invests more than $10 million in families and adoption services along with support for continued efforts to construct a Comprehensive Child Welfare Information Service. This will provide reliable and timely information to make improvements to services for the state's children.

Paying off debt

The budget will make use of one-time resources to invest nearly $1.3 billion in one-time expenses, including $500 million to retire debt and save Kansans millions in cash in future interest payments, according to the Office of the Governor. This will also inject more than half-a-billion dollars for long-overdue projects like the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP) Training Academy upgrades and a new Hutchinson Correctional Facility.

Water infrastructure

A total of $53 million is being appropriated in the budget for water infrastructure and other projects. Kelly said the budget includes $10 million for grants to rural communities that need improvements to their local infrastructure to preserve local access to clean water. The budget will bring the three-year investment in water in Kansas to more than $250 million.

Housing

More than $50 million is slated to expand affordable and middle-income housing in Kansas. Kelly's budget plan includes one-time matching grants for local communities to address housing insecurity and to help Kansans find permanent housing, continued investment in moderate-income housing and funding for the expansion of the workforce necessary to construct housing in Kansas.

Public safety

Kelly said her budget includes investments in the KHP such as the construction of a new communications center and funding for equipment and differential pay. One-time funding for the Kansas Department of Corrections includes financial aid to the behavioral health center at the Topeka Correctional Facility and public matching funds for the Lansing Career Campus. The Kansas Bureau of Investigations will also receive investments to help its fight against fentanyl and expand its Child Protection Initiative.

Mental, behavioral health

Kelly's new budget includes $1.5 million for Family Treatment Court in an effort to support Kansas youth or parents with substance use or co-occurring mental or behavioral health issues. The expansion of access to mental health in Kansas schools is also a priority in this budget with $3 million slated for the Mental Health Intervention Pilot Program. This brings funding to the program up to more than $17 million.

Retaining state employees

Lastly, Kelly's budget includes a 5% pay raise and increases the minimum wage to $15 per hour for state employees. This is being done to adjust for the job market and remain competitive with private-sector employers.

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