In a late-afternoon news conference, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez announced they would send a budget to the floor for a vote next week... a budget without the money they claim the schools are due.

The move may have as much to do with politics as policy: get the many other budget items off the table on time, and force a separate up-or-down vote on an estimated $3.1 billion more for K-14 education, as well as a tax hike on higher wage earners.

Nunez told reporters the decision may give Democrats the upper hand from a "moral compass" perspective.

But that also assumes Republicans will do their part by voting for the conference committee-crafted budget. Senator Dennis Hollingsworth (R-El Cajon), who represented his caucus on the conference committee, quickly released a statement calling the strategy a "political drill."

And the governor's finance director, Tom Campbell, told reporters he thinks the decision is "transparent" as to its motives in trying to force a squabble that links tax increases to school spending. Campbell also criticized Democrats for a budget plan that directs $2.3 billion dollars of one-time money to ongoing expenditures.