Democrats May Filibuster Gorton’s School Grant Plan

Heat from Senate Democrats is threatening to fry Sen. Slade Gorton’s amendment to take away money from the Education Department and give it directly to local school districts.

Sen. Patty Murray joined three Democratic colleagues at a news conference in which they threatened to filibuster the final version of the Labor-Health-Education appropriations bill - if it contains Gorton’s proposal.

The amendment would funnel about $11 billion of federal money directly to local school districts. But the Democrats said they are angry because dozens of federal programs - many of which target disadvantaged and needy kids - would be eliminated.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., called Gorton’s amendment a “back door” attack on the Education Department, an agency many conservative Republicans have wanted to dismantle for years.

At his own news conference, Gorton said the amendment simply would shift control of the money to local school boards and administrators, who are in a better position than “Washington bureaucrats to decide how the money should be spent.”

Under the proposal, school districts would receive at least as much money next year as they did in 1997, Gorton said. Some districts, he added, may get more money because funds won’t be absorbed by administrative costs.

But Democrats contend that the Department of Education serves an important role by addressing inequities within the education system with programs like reduced-price lunches, charter schools and bilingual education.

Federal money - which makes up about 6 percent of a school district’s budget - helps ensure that “every child will have equal access to education,” Murray said.

The Senate voted 51-49 to attach Gorton’s amendment to the spending bill, which it approved Sept. 11. A conference committee is expected to meet today to work out difference between the Senate and House versions.