CHEYENNE - A proposed constitutional amendment to remove any limit on the amount of local tax dollars wealthy school districts must turn over to the state passed Thursday, surviving a last ditch effort to block it.

Rep. Monte Olsen, R-Daniel, submitted an amendment to kill Senate Joint Resolution 6 by deleting the enacting clause with the support of Rep. Stan Cooper, R-Kemmerer.

But the House majority voted down Olsen's effort and went on to pass the bill on third and final reading on a 55-4 vote.

The bill now goes back to the Senate for a vote on minor House changes.

If it is signed into law, the proposed constitutional amendment will appear on the November 2004 general election ballot.

It would essentially end the state's "recapture" program adopted about 20 years ago in an attempt to equalize tax resources between the school districts.

SJ 6 eliminates the clause in the constitution that allows the rich school districts to keep local tax income above a threshold capped at 175 percent of the state average assessed valuation per student.

Assessed valuation from the Jonah gas field in Southwestern Wyoming gave $2 million more than the cap to Sublette County School District No. 9, and $8 million more to Sublette County School District No. 1.

The Wyoming Supreme Court said the recapture system is unconstitutional.

Two other education bills that are in response to the Supreme Court rulings in the school finance lawsuit case moved a step closer to passage Thursday.

-Senate File 59, which allocates $1.2 million for vocational education programs and grants, passed its first test in the House and comes up for second House reading today.

- House Bill 78, the major school finance bill which allocates $2.3 million for studies on special education, small schools, regional cost adjustments and other topics, passed second reading in the Senate and comes up for third and final Senate reading today.

The Senate took out of the bill an amendment adopted Wednesday that required a new task force studying student assessments to include at least 50 percent essay type questions.

Thursday's amendment, sponsored by Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, took out the percentage requirement to give the task force more flexibility.

Sen. Mike Massie, D-Laramie, amended HB 78 to require the state Department of Education to find out whether federal funds the state will receive from the No-Child-Left-Behind federal law of 2001 can be used to finance full day kindergarten in the state's public schools. HB 78 allocates $300,000 for full-day kindergarten in 22 Title 1 schools with 60 percent or more of their students from poverty level homes.

During the debate on SJ 6 , Cooper described the proposed constitutional amendment as "a grudge bill" aimed at the two Sublette County school districts and their bonanza from the Jonah gas fields.

Earlier Olsen and Cooper argued that Sublette County needs the money to deal with the impact from growth.

In support of SJ 6 , Rep. Phil Nicholas, R-Laramie, said the state has a constitutional obligation to provide a "complete and uniform system of public education."

"I'm from a county that will never have any wealth," Nicholas said. He added that the "beauty" of the Supreme Court decision in the Campbell County case "is it treats everybody alike."