THE STATE BUDGET IS MORE THAN DOLLARS AND CENTS. It reflects the values of Kansas voters and the lawmakers elected to represent them. The important decisions to spend taxpayer dollars across many programs and services vital to children, families, and communities matter because the budget determines our state’s quality of life, including economic security, education, health care, and much more.
Kansans deserve a budget that invests in everyone, regardless of race, income, zip code, identity, or ability.
This can only be achieved by creating a stable revenue stream through a fair tax system, elevating policies that recognize and correct systemic disparities and barriers faced by marginalized groups, and understanding the impact budget decisions will have now and in the future.
KAC works to demystify budget issues and the process so more Kansans can engage in this area. Our goal is to increase transparency and participation in the discussions happening within communities and at the Statehouse to advance policies that work to ensure that families and children have the resources they need to grow up healthy and successful.
The Kansas Budget Is Healthy, but Uncertainty from 2024 Tax Cuts Lingers
Overall Budget
After a decade of financial challenges corrected through recent policies to achieve fiscal stability, combined with higher-than-forecasted revenue, the Kansas budget has achieved surpluses in the past three fiscal years. We expect a normalization of the budget with an estimated $1.7 billion surplus in FY 2025, though the Legislature’s change to the tax system means there is more uncertainty in estimating the budget surplus.
Review monthly revenues and analysis on our Revenue Tracker.
Some notable investments made during the 2024 Session:
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Increased Medicaid reimbursement rates for physicians to help expand providers for care
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Increased Medicaid outpatient hospital reimbursement rate
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Added 500 slots to decrease the IDD and PD waiver program waiting lists and provide Medicaid services for eligible residents.
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First-time Medicaid coverage for routine dental care, such as dental exams, x-rays, and cleanings
Though to a lesser extent than at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, federal funds to the state have helped defer some State General Fund costs, which, in combination with strong state revenues, enabled the state to build a substantial rainy day fund of about $1.69 billion by the end of FY 2024.
How does the budget work? Learn more here.
Early Childhood Issues
The Children’s Initiatives Fund (CIF), administered by the Kansas Children’s Cabinet, is one of the largest and the only dedicated sources of funding for children and families programming in Kansas. In FY 2025, the CIF supported 11 evidence-based and data-driven programs with a focus on early childhood care and education, health screening, home visiting, and parent education.
The CIF relies on money the state receives from the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement ($61.7 million in FY 2025) and some federal funds, but no additional support from the State General Fund. CIF dollars are also used as the match needed to draw down additional federal funding for several programs serving Kansas children and families.
Learn more about the past decade of CIF funding and current challenges.
Policy Solutions
Building a state where all children and families have the resources they need to thrive requires constant and careful management of the budget. To create a solid budget policy Kansas lawmakers must:
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Design a state tax system that reliably and adequately funds the budget without disproportionately impacting low- and middle-income households
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Protect rainy day funds for emergency uses to avoid budget cuts to essential programs and services during economic recessions
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Ensure the state meets matching and maintenance of effort requirements to draw down all possible federal funds
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Capitalize on federal incentives to expand Medicaid to improve the health and economic security of thousands of Kansas families and communities
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Better invest in early childhood programs by supplementing the Children’s Initiatives Fund with State General Fund dollars
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Mobilize state, federal, local, and private investments to support critical needs in vital services like health, education, and child care
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Improve transparency and impact analysis on budget and tax expenditures to ensure that tax dollars are best used in ways that benefit all Kansans and lift up the most vulnerable
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