06/24/2009

By RYAN KOST  / Associated Press

The Legislature's school funding plan hit another snag in its torturous journey through the Capitol on Wednesday.

A day after Gov. Ted Kulongoski vetoed the measure, Senate Democrats failed by one vote to issue an override, placing the K-12 budget in legislative limbo for the time being.

The funding plan originally passed through the Senate with enough support to withstand a veto and was expected to squeak through a second passage. But four Republicans changed their vote this time, blocking the plan.

Sen. David Nelson, a Pendleton Republican, was one of the four. The Wednesday morning call for an override threw him off guard, he said.

"It caught everybody by surprise," he said. "We were just in negotiations."

Those negotiations hadn't wrapped up by the time the vote was called, so Nelson and the others voted "no."

Later in the day, Republicans served notice to reconsider their "no" vote — meaning the Senate could still overturn the veto, though nothing is certain.

"I think there are several people in the Republican caucus who could support" the funding plan, Nelson said. But it all depends on negotiations. Over what bills exactly, he wouldn't say.

For nearly two weeks now, the governor and Democratic legislative leaders have been at odds over how to organize the school budget.

Both agree schools should get $6 billion. What's at issue is how much K-12 should receive up front.

Legislators want to allocate $5.8 billion, leaving $200 million for next year if the economy has improved. Kulongoski wants an initial allocation of $5.6 billion, leaving $400 million in reserves, which is how the budget was initially drafted.

If legislative Democrats can't wrangle enough votes to overturn the veto, they'll have little choice but to allocate the budget the governor's way. Once that happens, the governor will happily sign the legislation, said Anna Richter Taylor, his spokeswoman.

"His position remains the same on the reserve funds," she said. "Ultimately the governor would like to see this go back to the (original) budget."