A top Senate leader and at least 10 other conservative Kansas legislators lost their seats as moderate Republicans made Tuesday’s primary election a referendum on the state’s budget problems and education funding.

Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce, of Nickerson, fell in his south-central Kansas district to Ed Berger, former president of Hutchinson Community College. Bruce’s defeat came amid a backlash against Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and his allies that appeared to spell trouble for conservatives.

"The way the state has been going, we have so many problems, and we need some changes to be made," said Stanley Prichard, a 46-year-old manufacturing worker from Hutchinson, who voted for Berger in the Republican primary.

Five other conservative senators lost in races that spanned the state. So did five conservative House members, all of them from affluent Kansas City-area suburbs in Johnson County, the state’s most populous, where voters have cherished good public schools for decades.

The voting occurred against the backdrop not only of the state’s fiscal woes but ongoing legal and political disputes over funding for public schools. The state Supreme Court could rule by the end of the year on whether the Legislature is shorting schools on their state aid by hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

Kansas has struggled to balance its budget since the GOP-dominated Legislature slashed personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Brownback’s urging to stimulate the economy. That’s created concerns among educators about future spending on schools, even as many Republicans see the $4 billion-plus a year the state now spends as generous.

Bruce was leaning in part on his record as a strong advocate of gun rights, having been the key backer of successful legislation to allow Kansans to carry concealed weapons without a state permit.

Some Republicans were sticking with Brownback and his allies.

Steve Brady, a 54-year-old Hutchinson business owner, said he voted for Bruce because he "is doing more positive things."

"I agree with the direction that he has taken the state right now," Brady said.

But the primary results suggested many Republicans were unhappy.

Besides Bruce, the conservative senators who were unseated were Tom Arpke, of Salina; Forrest Knox, of Altoona; Jeff Melcher, of Leawood; Larry Powell, of Garden City; and Greg Smith, of Overland Park. All are Brownback allies.

Some Brownback critics focused more on the Republican primary for House seats. Ousting conservatives would further their goal of building a governing coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats on key education and budget issues.

The House conservatives who lost Republican primaries were Rob Bruchman, of Leawood; Brett Hildabrand, of Shawnee; Jerry Lunn, of Overland Park; Charles Macheers, of Shawnee; and Craig McPherson, of Overland Park.

Three other conservative Republicans trailed, but their races were close. They were Will Carpenter, of El Dorado; Kasha Kelley, of Arkansas City; and Connie O’Brien, of Tonganoxie.

Democratic Rep. Ben Scott, of Topeka, lost his seat to a former state lawmaker and Topeka-area political veteran, Vic Miller. The district has no GOP candidate in November.

Marsha Rogers, a 58-year-old Democratic voter from Alma who works as a health insurance counselor for seniors, said she is upset with the state’s budget problems, particularly because they have led to cuts in funding for services for the elderly.

"The representatives and senators we’ve got now have been there too long and have kind of lost touch with what Kansans really need," she said.