State education officials and legislative Democrats say California is at risk of simply throwing away $47 million for students in the state’s most troubled public schools, and are pressuring the governor to sign a state law that would make the federal dollars available.

Narrowly defeated in the state senate this month, SB 606 — which allocates money for student intervention efforts at 97 of California’s most vulnerable school districts — heads for its last stand in the legislature in August.

If the measure fails, the state cannot appropriate $19 million of the funds to struggling school districts. If the money remains unused by Sept. 30, school districts will lose it to the federal government.

Napa Valley Unified School District is not among the 97 districts directly affected by the bill. Still, some local education officials worry that its failure could eventually put other California schools at risk, as more districts stand to be deemed “low-performing” due to higher proficiency standards set in motion by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002.

Napa County Office of Education Superintendent Barbara Nemko said the measure’s failure could “set the precedent of not allocating the money to the schools in a timely fashion.”

The struggle for funding coincides with California schools’ already sizable budget woes, she said.

“I think it’s unconscionable that the legislature cannot recognize the severity of the need,” she said. “You can’t keep mandating that schools do this and schools do that and continue to not fund it, particularly when the money was given to us for that purpose. ... It seems to me that there should be an accountability system for legislators; we sure have enough accountability for schools.”

Opponents of the legislation, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, say it would perpetuate funding a system that has failed to boost student performance.

In a letter he sent to lawmakers last month, Schwarzenegger wrote the bill’s provisions outlining the way intervention programs would work diminish school accountability and support programs that have had negligible benefits for students.

“There is no justification and no excuse for continuing to prop up a system that is failing our children. ... (SB 606) would diminish the authority of the (state Board of Education) and weaken the sanctions that can be imposed on districts that have repeatedly failed to meet the most basic standards of student achievement.”

One week later, the measure — requiring a two-thirds majority — failed in the state Senate by one vote.

“Republicans wouldn’t support it. ... (But) it was granted reconsideration and we still have another chance to take it up,” said Lynda Gledhill, a spokeswoman for the author of the bill, state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, Gledhill added that the bill previously eked out a victory in the state assembly.

Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, was the only Republican state senator to vote for the bill early this month.  

“Education must remain this state’s top priority,” Maldonado said in a prepared statement. “Given our current fiscal crisis, I simply cannot justify voting against any measure that would provide important funding to lower performing schools in California. ... When we are faced with a $15 billion budget deficit and the possibility of cutting state funding to education, how can we possibly turn away millions of federal dollars to our classrooms?”

Like most of California’s education establishment, the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association supports the bill, according to its deputy executive director, Michael Ricketts.

“(There are) provisions in the bill that create a structure around the way which (district intervention) services are provided and this seems to be the point of dispute. ... The governor’s office says it limits the state Board of Education’s power, and the legislature thinks these provisions are necessary. ... (They) need to reach political agreement,” said Ricketts.