LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm's educational ideas are hitting roadblocks as lawmakers start working on how to spend the state's money in the next budget year.
The Democratic governor's proposals for making daylong kindergarten mandatory, offering two years of free community college tuition to laid-off workers and setting up smaller high schools all could face trouble in the Republican-led Senate, and some face changes in the Democratic-led House.
The reasons for the disagreements range from the practical to the ideological.
Some lawmakers are leery of spending as much as Granholm has proposed because of the economic uncertainty the state faces. Granholm's budget plan would raise spending by 2.9 percent, to $44.8 billion, in the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. But the Senate now says the increase should be smaller because revenues may be less than expected.
One place where GOP senators want to cut back is money for K-12 school districts. They'll vote this week on a bill that would give public schools $71 to $142 more per student, rather than the $108 to $216 Granholm proposed.
Ideology also is shaping spending plans.
Granholm wants to borrow money to create up to 100 smaller, more intimate high schools that would have no more than 400 students each. A quarter of Michigan's high schools have failed to meet goals mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act for at least two years, and Granholm said studies show smaller schools have better results.
State Sen. Irma Clark-Coleman recently traveled to Providence, R.I., where she says she saw how successful a small, state-funded high school can be compared with larger, impersonal schools.
"We've got to offer something different," the Detroit Democrat said. "We cannot continue doing the same thing and getting no progress."
But Senate Republicans have a different opinion on how the state should use the money. They want to give every district another $19 to $20 per student to spend on buildings.
Infrastructure improvements usually must be paid for by raising local property taxes, but residents are often reluctant to approve the increases. Under the GOP plan, schools would get cash they could use to pay off debt, make immediate building repairs or put aside until there's enough to do a major construction project.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Ron Jelinek, R-Three Oaks, says districts with low property tax values can't keep pace with wealthier areas.
"A lot of taxpayers are not willing to pass bond issues and millage issues. This is a way to help those schools that can't get it passed and maybe others who won't have to go to the voters," he said.
Granholm's school spending plan should have more allies when the Democratic-controlled House gets a crack at the Senate version after legislators return from spring break next month.
But that's not the only place where she's running into opposition. Another sticking point is kindergarten.
Granholm wants youngsters to go for a full day, and she wants to make it mandatory that they attend. She says the state already is paying the schools the same per-pupil amount for half-day kindergartners as it does for full-day students, so all schools should provide daylong kindergarten. Schools that don't make the change would get less money starting in the 2009-10 budget year.
The Senate isn't on board, partly because districts use some of the money they get for kindergarten students to defer other costs. Some senators also are uncomfortable with taking the decision away from parents on when their children are ready for kindergarten and if they should attend all-day kindergarten classes.
About 92 percent of Michigan's 128,000 5-year-olds go to school. Lawmakers note that schools would have to spend more money on teachers if all eligible children attended school and kindergarten classes were lengthened.
Even some Democratic lawmakers share those worries. A few Democrats on the House Education Committee last week joined Republicans to require only failing schools to offer full-day kindergarten. Parents could still choose not to enroll their children in school until first grade.
The House did pass legislation last week setting aside $35 million for the governor's No Worker Left Behind program, which provides two years of free training and education to laid-off workers who retrain for jobs that are in demand, such as health technology positions.
That plan now goes to the Senate, which last year declined to give the governor the state money she wanted for the program. The program is being paid for currently with federal funds, but is training far fewer workers than Granholm says would benefit from the program.