a study to study the plan of the study

Is this proposal to go in-depth and compute what it'd take to fully fund education just another legislative "punt," or progress?

The group would also explore ways to provide stable and adequate financing to fully pay for basic education and report back to lawmakers with options by the beginning of next year.

The bill passed 43-5, with one senator excused. It now heads to the House, and Gov. Chris Gregoire has indicated she would sign it into law.

"It is not a study, it is a plan of action," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, chairwoman of the Senate's Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee.

But some Republican senators argued that developing a way to better pay for schools was the job of the 18-month-long Washington Learns study, which was co-chaired by Gregoire.

"Here we go again," said Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, as he held up a series of studies that the state has done on school financing through the years, including the Washington Learns final report.

"If you gave people two years, the power of the governor's office, what would you give them for a grade when they came back incomplete?" Schoesler said. "Why would you do this again?"

Sen. Cheryl Pflug, R-Maple Valley, said the task force was "clearly just another study" and that the Legislature was "just punting again."

"It's a step, I'm not sure if it's forward or not," Pflug said. "Frankly, I think we've been going around in circles for quite a long while."

I'm not so certain things would be any different--or any better--with Republicans in charge. For every Cheryl Pflug there's a Val Stevens.