State senators spar on education bill

State Senate Pro Tem Don PerataCalifornia state senators fired off angry statements at each other Wednesday after a bill on low-performing school district accountability and funding failed to get a required two-thirds vote in that chamber.

The bill, SB 606, would have allowed low-performing districts to use $19 million in federal money that would've otherwise reverted to the federal government. It would have also helped local school boards work to improve their schools with state oversight.

Because SB 606 was labeled an urgency bill, it needed two-thirds of all state senators to vote in approval to pass. Fourteen state senators, all Republicans, voted against the bill, leaving it one vote shy of that margin.

The bill's author, Senate Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) criticized the Republicans' move in a press release, saying the state was wasting an opportunity to take advantage of federal money.

"Especially in this budget year, we cannot afford to return money to the federal government that could and should be spent on schools because some people think the state should take over school districts," Perata said in the statement.

But State Sen. Mark Wyland (R-Carlsbad), Vice Chair of the Senate Education Committee, fired back by saying Democrats were too willing to vote for a bill that weakened accountability and was unlikely to be signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger anyhow.

"Instead of working with Republicans to approve an alternative that would have allocated $45 million in federal dollars to support California's weakest school districts, the majority party, knowing their bill would be dead on arrival at the Governor's desk, chose to paint a less than honest picture and voted to weaken the accountability of California schools and tax dollars," Wyland wrote in a response statement.

Wyland noted that last week, Democrats turned back his bill, SB 493, which also dealt with federal funding for low-performing schools but kept accountability measures waived in Perata's bill.

SB 606 will be filed for reconsideration at a future date, according to Perata's press release.

The money for the low-performing schools would've come from the U.S. government's No Child Left Behind Act, which gives states the right to take over operation of a school district that consistently performs below expectations.