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Huckabee vetoes science specialists bill Thursday, Apr 13, 2006 Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Gov. Mike Huckabee on Wednesday vetoed a major section of a bill that would have funded more science specialists at Arkansas' elementary schools. Huckabee used his line-item veto power to strike a section of Senate Bill 19 that appropriated $570,303 for the science specialist program. The governor said he was troubled that the money would have been taken from a Department of Higher Education account that funds college scholarships. "While I agree with the intent of the bill, the support of the Elementary Science Specialist Program, I disagree with the mechanism used to carry it out, the raiding of scholarship funds," Huckabee said in a letter to the Senate. Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, was the lead sponsor of SB19. Madison said Wednesday she would defer to Senate leaders to decide whether to try to override the veto. Gubernatorial vetoes may be overridden by a simple majority of both the House and Senate. The Legislature recessed a weeklong special session on education Friday, but will reconvene May 1 to officially adjourn the session. Action on a veto override could be taken on May 1, Madison said. The House voted 89-0 and the Senate voted 34-0 to adopt the measure. Madison said Sen. Jack Critcher, D-Batesville, proposed using Department of Higher Education funds instead of surplus general revenue to pay for the specialists. She said department officials assured Critcher that the scholarship fund would have $17 million in surplus this year, even after money was allocated for the science specialist program. "There is nobody in the Legislature that would jeopardize these scholarships," Madison said. Linda Beene, director of the Department of Higher Education, did not return a phone call seeking comment. In addition to his concerns about funding the program with higher education funds, Huckabee said he thought the bill was not related to his 35-item special session call. The line-item veto was the final action Huckabee took in regard to bills enacted in the special session. The governor signed every other bill into law. |
