House, Senate throw down over school bill

In a spat with the Senate, the House today shot down the annual bill funding Colorado's public schools, legislation that included expanding full-day kindergarten.

It's a quarrel everyone agrees will be resolved before lawmakers adjourn Wednesday, but the rejection of House Bill 1388 showed the tension that can come in the final days of the session.

"Part of it is that there's a feeling the Senate has gotten everything it wants and the House hasn't," said Rep. Paul Weissmann, D-Louisville, who led the opposition to the school finance bill.

Lawmakers have to approve a school finance bill every year, and there typically are attempts to fund new programs. The House earlier this year had rejected separate Senate legislation creating a $2 million program related to teacher incentive programs.

The Senate stuck that language into the school finance bill along with a provision allowing high school seniors to take just one class, if that's all they need to graduate. Currently, they must take at least four, Weissmann said, regardless of whether they need all of the classes to graduate.

Weissmann said the amendments were unacceptable. The House rejected the conference committee version of the bill on a 30-35 vote, with 12 Republicans and 23 Democrats voting against the bill.

The move was mostly a message to the Senate that the House wanted more concessions on the bill. House leaders quickly moved to set up another conference committee with the Senate, expected to meet Tuesday. 

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