Assembly Republicans are offering a package of bills on education— One measure by G.O.P leader Mike Villines would set aside mandates on schools if the state fails to provide full funding for them.  Villines says schools are on the hook for those new programs. 

  “We want science taught in a certain way we have to have a new administrator and a new teacher and a new this, but we don’t fund it…”

They say other bills in the package will give schools flexibility over state funds that are usually designated for certain programs. Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed ten percent across the board cuts in state government- which could result in nearly five billion dollars in reductions to California schools.  A spokesman for Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez criticized the measures saying "flexibility" is nothing more than a code for the term “cut”.