AP and staff reports

ST.

Friday, May 04, 2001

ST. PAUL – Separated by a hallway in distance but by a mile in philosophy, the House and Senate approved education proposals Thursday, leaving only a couple of weeks to merge them.

The House bill passed 72-61; the Senate version got by 46-18. Debate in both chambers spanned more than six hours.

Both proposals for primary and secondary schools would significantly outspend one by Gov. Jesse Ventura, who’s drawn fire for a budget that offered $114 million in new K-12 spending.

While the two bills aren’t far apart on the two-year price tag – $8.7 billion in the House ($355 million in new spending) and $8.8 billion in the Senate ($457 million in new funding) – they differ widely in how the money gets to districts.

State Sen. Grace Schwab (R-Albert Lea), who voted for the Senate bill, said "It’s good legislation, but it also contains a lot of pork.

"We had the opportunity to create a great education bill. What we have is a good education bill," Schwab said.

"School districts, like Austin and Albert Lea, did not get the money they need and because they’re in the midst of negotiations, there will have to be cuts," the freshman senator said.

State Rep. Rob Leighton (DFL-Austin) voted against the Omnibus K-12 Education Finance bill Thursday.

"The fact is that our schools will continue to fall further behind," Leighton said. "With our local schools facing significant budget cuts, now is the time for the state to significantly increase its support and truly make education our top priority."

"School finance experts estimate the rate of inflation over the next few years at between 3 percent and 5 percent," Leighton said. "This bill doesn’t even keep our schools ahead of inflationary increases, to say nothing for the extra funding our schools need to keep classes small, upgrade technology and maintain student programs.