For the second straight week, Governor Napolitano announced a compromise proposal aimed at ending a stalemate between herself and legislative Republicans over how to satisfy a federal court order and fund English language learner programs in public schools.

And, for the second time in two weeks, Republicans criticized the governor’s plan as not addressing their concerns and simply throwing money at the problem instead of trying to fix it.

Both sides have said the other is unwilling to negotiate a true compromise.

“The Legislature hasn’t moved since last May,” Ms. Napolitano said in a Feb. 8 press conference, later adding, “There’s room in here for compromise. I can’t compromise with myself. They’ve got to come to the table.”

In a press conference later that day, Senate President Ken Bennett and House Speaker Jim Weiers said the Republican-supported provisions included in draft legislation prepared at the governor’s behest were meaningless in the context of the entire plan she was proposing.

“They’re cosmetic changes to make it look like she’s embracing some of our ideas,” Mr. Bennett, a District 1 Republican, said.

On Feb. 9, legislative leaders met with the governor for about 90 minutes in an attempt to come to an agreement over how to fund the English learner programs. Ms. Napolitano called the meeting “very productive” and Mr. Bennett said the two sides were nearing a “conceptual agreement.”

Governor: “It’s very complicated’

Both sides, however, said there was still much work to be done before a resolution could be reached.

“If this were easy, this would have been done months ago,” Ms. Napolitano said. “It’s a very difficult area. We want to do the right thing for the kids. It’s very complicated”

To date, Ms. Napolitano has vetoed three pieces of legislation crafted by Republican lawmakers to meet a 2000 federal court order in the Flores v. State of Arizona lawsuit that the state better fund programs to teach schoolchildren English.

Last May, Ms. Napolitano vetoed H2718, a plan that would have changed funding from a flat rate per student to a program of issuing cash grants for ELL programs only to school districts that demonstrate a need for additional state funding. She said at the time the plan was inadequate.

Both bills vetoed this year — H2004 in the regular session and H2002 in a special session, which the governor called for after vetoing H2004 — were based on last year’s bill.

Currently, districts receive flat-rate funding of $355 per ELL student to teach them English. There are 154,000 ELL students statewide, according to the Department of Education.

Republican leaders say the governor is unfairly preventing the state from complying with the court’s order by refusing to let a Flores plan passed by the Legislature become law, thereby opening the state up to hefty fines. They say the vetoes are preventing the federal judge from either approving or rejecting the plan.

“She continues to play governor and judge,” Mr. Bennett said.

The fines

The state has been fined $500,000 a day since Jan. 25 for failing to comply with a December federal court order in the Flores case that required a funding plan for ELL students conforming to federal law be in place by Jan. 24. If a funding formula isn’t signed into law by Feb. 24, the fines increase to $1 million a day.

The draft bill Ms. Napolitano put forward is based on a funding plan she developed last summer, as a counter proposal to the Republican-backed bill she had vetoed that May. She said the language was devised to be a hybrid of her bill and the Flores bills she has vetoed.

“I took elements of their bill, elements of a bill I think satisfies Flores, blended them together and then answered all of their questions about my proposal and corrected a lot of mischaracterizations about what I’ve been proposing,” she said at the Feb. 8 press conference.

The draft bill continues funding the English language learner, or ELL, programs on a flat-rate basis per student. It calls for increase to $667 per student in fiscal 2007, which begins July 1, 2006; $978 in fiscal 2008 and $1,289 in fiscal 2009. The proposed increases would cost the state an additional $48 million, $96 million and $144 million, respectively, over current funding levels if the number of ELL students remains constant.

Mr. Bennett says the governor’s latest plan only addresses five aspects of the Republican plan – most notably the composition of an English Language Learner task force, though its function differs between the two plans.

“We appreciate her talking about compromise,” Mr. Bennett said, “but we’re looking forward to a real progress in negotiations of the substance of the proposals.”

Republican leaders were also angered by language included in the latest proposal they say would require any funding for English programs be used not only to become proficient in the language, but also “to master” the state’s academic standards. They say that means the money also has to be used to ensure the students pass the AIMS test.

Such a requirement, Mr. Weiers said, could result in a lawsuit for creating two classes of students, since English-speaking students receive no extra monies to guarantee they pass the test, which is required to graduate high school.

“She is making changes but she is not going forward,” Mr. Weiers said. “She is literally going backward.”

A spokeswoman for Ms. Napolitano said the language reflects a voter-approved preference in state law for placing English-learning students in immersion programs in which academic subjects are taught nearly all in English. She called the objections “red herrings.”

Senate reporter Phil Riske contributed to this article.