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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TOPEKA (AP) -- Still short of votes, House Speaker Doug Mays declared Friday that failure to pass a proposed constitutional amendment to cut into judicial powers will most likely end the Legislature's special session.

Mays postponed final action on the proposed amendment until late afternoon and declared the amendment must pass if lawmakers are to approve a school finance bill to satisfy a court demand for increased education funding.

If the amendment fails, Mays told reporters, ''I think it brings the session to a halt.''

Mays, R-Topeka, said his count puts the number of those who will vote for the amendment ''in the upper 70s.''

The amendment needs 84 of the House's 125 votes to pass.

The proposal won first-round approval on a voice vote Thursday. When a similar proposal failed Sunday by 14 votes, Republicans in the House were divided and Democrats were united against it. The Senate passed the same proposal last week.

The proposed amendment declares courts and the executive branch have no authority to tell legislators to appropriate money or redirect funds after they have been allotted by lawmakers.

Legislators, particularly conservative Republicans, have been upset since the court ordered them to come up with an extra $143 million for public schools by today. That order triggered a special session, which began June 22.

On a 64-46 vote, members removed language that would have made the court's order unenforceable if the amendment becomes part of the constitution.

Republican leaders tied the fate of a $139 million education bill to the outcome of the proposal by adding language that said the spending bill would be voided if the amendment didn't pass the Legislature and go to a statewide vote. The vote is estimated to cost $1.7 million.

Democrats remained firm in their opposition today.

''We compromise on school finance,'' said Rep. Joshua Svaty, D-Ellsworth. ''We don't compromise on bad policy.''

On Thursday, debate on the proposed amendment consisted mainly of Democrats speaking against it.

Rep. Mike Peterson suggested the emphasis in the special session has shifted from schools to courts.

''We came here to fund schools for children. We didn't come here to place the blame on somebody else,'' said Peterson, D-Kansas City. ''Why change something that isn't broken?''

Almost from the session's start, there has been as much talk about the justices crossing the separation of powers line and encroaching on legislative turf as there has been about spending more money on schools. Many legislators openly talked about payback time for the justices and criticized ''activist judges'' and ''runaway courts.''