Alva Review-Courier -

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Prisons in Kansas face a crisis in hiring staff because of poor pay. A former governor called a state hospital for the mentally ill "a pit." Highway projects are delayed because state funding keeps getting diverted to other priorities.

But an ongoing lawsuit has forced state legislators to be preoccupied with finding money for public schools ahead of those other pressing issues. And lawmakers are starting to resent that.

"It's like the schools are the grain truck. Instead of sharing the grain, they just keep raising the sides on the bed and keeping it all for themselves," s...