The Senate Education Committee spent an hour debating HB 252, the consensus bill to allow cuts in school funding when school districts declare financial emergencies, before finally approving it this afternoon by a single vote. The measure passed the House last Tuesday on a 69-0 vote. Now, the Senate committee has started into HB 256, a considerably more contentious one that passed the House 50-20 last Wednesday. This is the one to cut $4.1 million a year from state reimbursements to school districts for their student busing costs; among those signed up to testify against it are several people from the Boise School District, which would lose nearly $1.5 million in state funding under the bill.