Troy Waymaster spilled the beans.

The Bunker Hill Republican, speaking as the House passed its budget blueprint for the next year, all but admitted that Republicans plan to target K-12 school funding to balance the budget. Not this year, but soon.

Kansas now spends about a half-billion dollars more annually than it collects in taxes. We can thank recent rounds of GOP-driven tax cuts that benefit the wealthiest among us. When the bill comes due, school kids will pay the price.

Waymaster said during debate that this year’s budget was just a first step. Next session, he called for “necessary changes” to the K-12 school funding formula. In other words, legislators better preserve those tasty tax handouts for millionaires while choking off dollars to educate the next generation.

“Are we going to be able to cut it? No, but I think there are some parameters that can be put in place so it’s not just a continual large increase that goes into K-12 annually,” Waymaster said.

That’s so much doublespeak. Everyone understands how inflation works. If spending on schools stays flat, or fails to keep up with costs, that leaves the education system poorer.

The biggest unspoken question in Kansas politics recently has been how lawmakers intended to fill the gaping budget hole that will soon push Kansas into the red. You can go after universities and family assistance programs, but those only go so far.

The state spends serious money on schools. Republican leaders have suggested over the past couple of years they want to pare back education spending. No one has said so outright, of course. You just have to put two and two together. Lawmakers have refused to fully fund special education. A high-profile task force meant to rewrite the state’s education funding formula ended up taking a pass — perhaps realizing it was better not to campaign on draconian cuts in an election year.

Waymaster, as the saying goes, just came right out and said it.

The question for Kansans will be whether they accept or support these cuts. Voters might not like taxes or big-spending politicians, but they absolutely hate the idea of kids’ futures being curtailed because lawmakers can’t make tough decisions in Topeka.

Folks still remember former Gov. Sam Brownback’s failure. Who among us yearns for a repeat?

Clay Wirestone is the Kansas Reflector opinion editor. This editorial is part of a longer roundup of Kansas legislative exploits, Wirestone’s weekly “Statehouse Scraps.” The full text can be read online at kansasreflector.com/commentary/. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate.