By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN

Kansas’ plans to migrate driver’s license records for about 2 million people from an aged mainframe to new information technology infrastructure remain troubled, a new report indicates.

Some portions of the already-delayed KanLicense project have been further postponed, a team of legislative auditors wrote in the report, with plans to carry them out after the project’s go-live date in early January.

Read the new project monitoring report on KanLicense.

According to the report, the Kansas Department of Revenue — the agency in charge of implementing KanLicense, previously known as KanDrive — said the portions being punted to next year involve server upgrades and other items that won’t cause problems.

The auditors disagreed.

“There is potential risk that delaying this portion of the work could jeopardize the successful roll-out of the KanLicense project,” the report said, “or could result in functionality issues after the system is in use.”

In a letter responding to the audit, the department said KanLicense has seen a “positive turnaround.”

KanLicense “has successfully accomplished many project milestones,” department official Lisa Kaspar wrote.

Lawmakers and state officials want to avoid the type of technical woes that plagued past Kansas IT projects after they went live, including the launch of a new system for vehicle registrations in 2012 and a new software platform for Medicaid eligibility in 2015.

Auditors have been monitoring KanLicense on a quarterly basis because of its rocky progress. Its latest projected launch date is six years behind schedule. Uninterrupted access to driver’s license records is vital for motor vehicle offices and law enforcement agencies.

Last month Kansas Revenue Secretary Sam Williams told lawmakers he will push back the KanLicense launch if quality issues arise but said the project is on track for a smooth rollout.

RELATED: Kansas revenue secretary says driver’s license IT project on track for 2018 launch

It is undergoing testing this fall, he said, and staff from motor vehicle offices have begun training related to its use.

Other problems that auditors cited in their new report included concerns that more work remains to be done on KanLicense than can be completed by January, and that contractors continue to miss deadlines.

The department switched to a system of milestone targets to hold contractors accountable, but auditors said the agency accepted some portions of work as meeting milestones even when components were missing.

One of the contractors, MorphoTrust, recently replaced its program manager, the report said. It also shortened its timeline for system testing from two months to one to help catch up.

Celia Llopis-Jepsen is a reporter for the Kansas News Service,. You can reach her on Twitter @Celia_LJ.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — A Kansas school bus driver is on administrative leave following an accident in Topeka.

Just after 8 a.m. Thursday, James George was driving a Meadowlark Elementary bus with 24 students on board.

The bus hit another vehicle and crashed into a house at First Street and SW Franklin, according to Topeka Public School Communication Director Misty Franklin.

Police cited George for failure to stop at a stop sign. None of the students on the bus were injured. George and the other driver also avoided injury.

On Friday, George’s employer Durham Transportation confirmed he is on administrative leave.

BY JIM MCLEAN

Kansas gubernatorial candidate Ed O’Malley came out swinging Tuesday at a campaign launch event in Overland Park.

The Republican former state legislator from Johnson County, who for the last decade has served as president and CEO of the Wichita-based Kansas Leadership Center, swung for the policy fences by pledging that his primary goal as governor would be to make Kansas public schools the “best in the world.”

“That is not rhetoric, and that is not beyond our reach,” O’Malley said. “We can be known literally as the very best in the world. And it will fuel our economy for generations to come.”

O’Malley, who started in politics as an aide to former Kansas Gov. Bill Graves, also took some aggressive swings at one of his rivals for the Republican nomination, Secretary of State Kris Kobach, calling him a divisive candidate who is running for governor to further his national political ambitions.

“Let me be incredibly blunt,” he said. “Kris Kobach will divide us in order to try to win. And make no mistake, if he succeeds he’ll keep dividing us so he can win an even higher office.”

Kobach’s aggressive efforts to combat a voter fraud problem that many argue does not exist have made him a high-profile but controversial figure in Kansas and nationally. At his urging, Kansas legislators passed anti-fraud measures that among other things require new Kansas voters to provide proof of citizenship for state registration.

“Secretary Kobach is the only candidate for governor with a proven record of achieving conservative results,” wrote Samantha Poetter, Kobach’s campaign spokesperson, in an email response. “He led the effort to pass bipartisan election security reform through the Kansas legislature, which was supported by two-thirds of House Democrats and three-fourths of Senate Democrats.

“Kobach’s proven record of results show that he is ready to lead and fix Topeka’s problems,” Poetter wrote.

Plenty of candidates

O’Malley, 41, is the first Republican gubernatorial candidate to explicitly criticize Kobach, the perceived front-runner for the GOP nomination.

Reporters recently had to push Mark Hutton, a former legislator and owner of a Wichita construction company, to acknowledge that he was referring to Kobach when he compared his pragmatic approach to that of candidates “with a little more of a grenade-throwing mentality.”

Even Democrat Josh Svaty hesitated before acknowledging that he was referring to Kobach when he said “a hyperpartisan bomb-thrower” would not be the best choice for Kansans wanting a problem-solver in the governor’s office.

Svaty represented Ellsworth in the Kansas House before former Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius appointed him to head the Kansas Department of Agriculture.

Others competing for the Democratic nomination for governor are Kansas House Minority Leader Jim Ward and former Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer.

In addition to O’Malley, Hutton and Kobach, the crowded Republican field includes Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer, Wichita oil executive Wink Hartman and former Kansas Sen. Jim Barnett, a loser to Sebelius in the 2006 governor’s race.

Orman as independent?

Candidates in both parties are bracing for an expected announcement from Olathe businessman Greg Orman, who sources say will run as an independent.

Orman, who mounted a strong independent challengeto U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts in 2014, has done preliminary polling and is putting together a campaign staff, according to several sources who would only speak on background.

“Based on my last conversation with him, I believe he’s going to run,” said one source. “But as far as I know, he hasn’t made a final decision.”

That decision is expected soon.

If he runs, Orman — a multimillionaire who sources say intends to self-fund his campaign — would appeal to the same moderate Republican voters whose support O’Malley, Barnett, Hutton or Selzer would need to capture the nomination over Kobach, the leading conservative in the race.

Perhaps anticipating Orman’s candidacy, O’Malley urged all who attended his Overland Park announcement to vote in the GOP primary.

“I need you to be registered as a Republican,” he said. “We have to win this primary election.”

The conventional wisdom among Kansas political observers is that if Kobach prevails in the primary, Orman running as an independent would increase Kobach’s chances of winning the general election with a solid bloc of conservative votes.

Jim McLean is managing director of the Kansas News Service. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Latest on the Kansas Supreme Court’s ruling on public school funding (all times local):

6:45 p.m.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback is calling a Kansas Supreme Court decision on school funding “yet another regrettable chapter in the never ending cycle of litigation” over education funding.

Brownback issued his statement Monday after the court rejected a school funding law enacted earlier this year.

The law phased in a $293 million increase in spending on schools over two years, and the court said the spending is inadequate to provide a suitable education for every child.

But Brownback said the court should not have substituted its judgment for the Legislature’s.

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3:20 p.m.

The Kansas House’s top Democrat says a state Supreme Court ruling against a new school funding law is no surprise.

House Minority Leader Jim Ward of Wichita said Monday that many lawmakers in both parties identified some of the same flaws cited by the seven-member court.

The law phased in a $293 million increase in spending on public schools over two years, and the court said the spending is inadequate to provide a suitable education for every child.

Ward and other Democrats had argued the increase was far too low.

The court also said rejected the new per-student formula for distributing aid as being unfair to poor districts.

Ward is running for governor next year.

Fellow Democratic candidate Joshua Svaty praised the ruling and called for higher teacher salaries.

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2:45 p.m.

An attorney representing four Kansas school districts that sued the state over education funding says a state Supreme Court ruling is bittersweet.

Attorney Alan Rupe said the decision Monday by the Supreme Court confirms that public schools in Kansas are significantly underfunded. He said the Dodge City, Hutchinson, Wichita and Kansas City, Kansas, districts proved that during a lower-court trial four years ago.

But Rupe also noted that the court directed legislators to fix the problem before July 2018 and that three of its seven members would have mandated quicker action.

Rupe said significant damage has been done as the state has ignored its obligations under the Kansas Constitution.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback said his office is reviewing the decision and will comment after a full review.

2:20 p.m.

The Kansas Supreme Court has ruled that legislators did not increase spending on public schools enough this year and ordered a bigger increase.

The high court on Monday rejected the state’s arguments that a new law phasing in a $293 million increase in funding over two years was enough to provide a suitable education for every child. The state is projected to spend about $4.3 billion on aid to its 286 school districts during the 2018-19 school year under the new law.

The court ruled in a lawsuit filed in 2010 by four school districts and told lawmakers to write a new school funding law before July 2018.

The districts argued that the increase approved by lawmakers was at least $600 million short of what was necessary.

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