Posted March 11th, 2010 5:59 am

As noted yesterday, in a shocking development, Republicans expressed displeasure over how funding for the budget was tied to whether legislators voted for the budget.

Yesterday came the news that the budget passed by the house did not include funding for older schools in Republican districts.

The budget bill the House passed Wednesday would pay to replace eight school buildings that are among the state’s most dilapidated, and all are in the districts of Democrats who voted for a crucial revenue measure last week.
But seven such schools — in the districts of Republicans who voted against the revenue bill — were not funded. And that generated a torrent of GOP criticism Wednesday.
“It’s not really about the kids and the horrible conditions of our schools,” said House Republican Leader Jeff Hoover of Jamestown during the debate Wednesday on the budget, which passed on a near party-line vote of 65-33. “If it was you would’ve funded all the schools. Republican or Democrat districts, they are all Kentucky kids.”
The budget bill’s “Critical School Needs” plan includes $684 million in bond funds for 65 school projects, and 50 of those projects aren’t as badly in need of replacement as the seven schools in Republican districts, according to rankings of need posted on the Department of Education’s Web site.
Key Democrats who oversaw the budget process acknowledged that the vote on the revenue bill last Thursday was key in deciding which projects — water and sewer projects, as well as schools – got funded.

This is just the second act in a three or maybe four-act play. Count on the Senate doing the exact opposite of the house on priorities. Will there be a budget consensus? Probably. David Williams knows that if he loses three seats, he is done. House Speaker Greg Stumbo has a lot more room to operate and more margin for error.

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