Budget Progress Stalls in Senate : Finances: Education bill sidetracks negotiations between Democratic and Republican leaders in the upper house. Wilson immediately vetoes the measure.

The state Senate’s modest progress toward a bipartisan compromise on the budget stalled Sunday when the focus shifted to a Democrat-backed education finance bill that was more generous to schools than a plan proposed by Gov. Pete Wilson.

The education bill, which passed late Sunday 23 to 14, would have kept public schools at the same level of per-student funding as they received last year. Wilson, however, was waiting for the Senate to act and immediately vetoed the measure when it came to his desk.

The education bill’s arrival from the Assembly short-circuited negotiations between Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys) and Republican Leader Ken Maddy of Fresno, who were putting together a deal that was to include a number of new Democratic concessions to Wilson on health, welfare and education issues.

Roberti said the Senate’s Democratic members were reluctant to go further after the Assembly passed a bill that has the support of the state’s education community.

“It’s difficult to explain to members why you are working on a compromise when there is what appears to be a viable and better option,” Roberti said. “The fact that it may not be viable is hard to explain while it’s still around. Maybe you have to just play it out.”

Wilson has proposed virtually the same amount for kindergarten through 12th grade. But the governor’s plan would force the schools to borrow from future appropriations to maintain funding levels this year and would cut deeper into community college funding than the Assembly-passed plan.

The measure fits with a $58-billion budget that Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) is backing. That budget bill has the support of two Republican lawmakers, and Brown is planning to amend it further in hopes of attracting additional support from GOP legislators. A budget bill needs 54 votes to pass in the Assembly, where there are 47 Democrats and 33 Republicans.

Maddy accused Brown of trying to derail the Senate negotiations by sending over the education bill, which the Assembly passed Saturday on a nearly party-line vote.

“It was well-timed,” Maddy said. “He saw the handwriting on the wall. We were very close to sending them a compromise budget proposal that most reasonable people would have accepted. I think the reason he did this is because he’d like to scuttle our efforts.”

Maddy and Roberti have refused to make public their education proposal. But the details they have released on other issues show that Roberti is willing to go further to satisfy Wilson than Democrats have agreed to so far.

The emerging deal includes a permanent cut averaging 5.8% in welfare grants, compared to the one-year reduction of 4.5% that Democrats have accepted. The depth of the cut would vary by region, ranging from 4.5% to 7.5% depending on the cost of living in each area. Wilson wants a 10% cut, immediately followed by a 15% reduction after six months for families whose members include an able-bodied adult.

The plan also would have allowed the Wilson Administration to cut $90 million worth of Medi-Cal services, including hospice care and dental services for adults, which the state offers but which are not part of the package of benefits required by the federal government.

On local government, Roberti and Maddy have agreed to a $1.3-billion shift of property taxes away from cities, counties and special districts to help balance the state budget. That figure falls between the $1.7 billion contained in the last complete plan backed by Democrats and the $1 billion agreed to by Wilson, who has said that a larger reduction would endanger police and fire services.

Although Assembly Democrats are opposed to the health and welfare cuts that Roberti said he has agreed to, the Senate leader said he was not negotiating with them in mind.

“I’ve got to work on passing bills in my house,” Roberti said. “It’s difficult enough to pass bills in my house without factoring in the Assembly.”