Kansas House Republicans to study Brownback's all-day kindergarten proposal

Kansas House Republicans are forming a committee to study Gov. Sam Brownback's proposal to increase funding for all-day kindergarten.

House Speaker Ray Merrick announced Tuesday that he had asked a group of legislators to review the plan before the chamber acts on it.

Brownback announced in December that he wanted to increase funding for all-day kindergarten over five years. The first year would cost $16 million, increasing by the same amount until fully funded at more than $80 million in the fifth year.

Currently, nearly all of the state's 286 school districts provide all-day kindergarten. The program is funded with existing state aid, such as money allocated for students at-risk of academic failure, or general school revenues.

This story was originally published January 14, 2014 at 2:48 PM with the headline "Kansas House Republicans to study Brownback's all-day kindergarten proposal."