Washington Senate Takes a Detour on School Funding Plan

SEATTLE (AP) — The Washington Senate has taken a detour on the road toward meeting the Supreme Court's demand to fix the way the state pays for public schools.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday evening passed a new approach to dealing with local levy dollars. Lawmakers say it either makes more progress or wrecks the Legislature's chances of reaching a bipartisan deal this session.

The bill still requires a vote on the Senate floor before lawmakers can compare it with a completely different approach approved by the House last month.

A bipartisan group from both chambers met over the summer and fall to work out a compromise on this issue. The bill passed by the House is similar to the language that task force agreed to before the session began. The Senate bill takes a different approach.