Gov. Batt Signs $664 Million In Aid To Public Schools

With no fanfare, Gov. Phil Batt signed into law on Monday the $664 million public school aid package that is the cornerstone of his 1996 state spending blueprint.

The governor’s action came as Senate Republicans overruled their own tax-writing committee to avert a deadlock on juvenile justice financing that could have thwarted leadership efforts to adjourn by week’s end.

That juvenile justice legislation was also a key part of the governor’s bare-bones budget. But the school aid package dictated nearly all the other aspects of the funding plan, and it was essentially determined once lawmakers agreed to enact Batt’s $40 million statefinanced property tax reduction plan.

While $43.5 million more than schools are receiving this year, the allocation has been criticized as woefully inadequate and likely to force many districts to seek property tax increases to supplement their operating budgets. Critics also contend the state aid plan provides no cash for the same kinds of pay raises for teachers that other government workers are getting. But Batt disagreed.

“I believe this increase shows my commitment to our public schools,” the governor said in a statement. “I hope to find ways to make our system more efficient and thereby direct our resources to areas that will provide the most benefit to our children.”

In the Senate, the vote was 22-13 to relieve Local Government and Taxation Committee of the House-passed diversion of $3.5 million in cigarette tax revenues from public school substance abuse programs to juvenile probation and other programs run by the counties.

Without the diversion, counties would have been left with no cash to cover their new responsibilities under a system governed by the new state Department of Juvenile Corrections since legislative budget writers essentially have spent all the general tax revenue anticipated for the new spending year that begins July 1.

It was a rare use of the procedural move that the GOP majority has typically lambasted when minority Democrats have unsuccessfully tried it to free up bills bottled up in Republican-controlled committee.

With lawmakers pressing to wrap up work by Friday, the Senate backed creation of a $1 million Constitutional Defense Council that critics claimed would be nothing more than a trust fund for lawyers, and the House approved $100,000 to finance yet another study on how the state should run its higher education system. Both measures still need approval from the other house.

And within minutes of endorsing the defense council legislation, the Senate also forwarded to the house creation of an outdoor recreation trust fund for permanent financing of an estimated $277 million in unmet recreational facilities needs.

But the state put no cash into the fund because proponents said there was no more money available.