But Kelly, her fellow Democrats and education groups argue that such proposals are designed to weaken public schools, especially when they divert their funds to paying for private or home schooling. Some critics also argue that there will huge additional costs when parents who already have kids in private schools take advantage.

“I don’t even know where to start,” Lauren Tice, a lobbyist for the state’s largest teachers’ union and a member of a local Topeka-area school board, said of the union’s objections. “Nobody can predict what kind of fiscal impact this will have.”

Moderate Republicans in Kansas have long been skeptical of school choice initiatives, but they’ve been joined this year by rural Republicans who don’t believe those measure have anything to offer areas with few or no private schools. They said public schools often are the heart of small communities.

“Frankly, the home schoolers in my district want the government to stay out of their living room,” said state Rep. Bill Clifford, a Republican from southwestern Kansas. “They were very resistant.”

The House’s measure would at first limit education savings accounts to students who are considered at risk of failing or who are at least one grade level behind in reading and math, as well as another 2,000 from working-class or middle-class families. The program would expand over three years so that students could be eligible if they are in a family of four with an income of up to $180,000 a year.

After the House vote, Williams said that she hopes Kelly will have “an open mind” about its measure, arguing that it represents “meeting in the middle.”

“This is really about helping disadvantaged kids,” Williams said.