SENATORS CLOSE TO DEAL ON EDUCATION

Moving closer to a deal on education, Senate Republicans and Democrats said today that they had tentatively agreed to a White House-backed plan to help buttress failing schools and hold them more accountable.

The compromise would give parents and

Moving closer to a deal on education, Senate Republicans and Democrats said today that they had tentatively agreed to a White House-backed plan to help buttress failing schools and hold them more accountable.

The compromise would give parents and local districts new options to help low-income children in failing schools, including permitting the use of taxpayer money for tutoring, switching children to other public schools and, as a last resort, turning schools into charter institutions. A school’s progress would be gauged through annual testing of students from third grade to eighth grade. If the additional federal help failed to raise failing schools, the districts would risk losing money, and schools would be overhauled.

The compromise did not include President Bush’s signature education proposal, which would funnel dollars to private schools though use of vouchers. Democrats said that proposal would poison the legislation. The battle over vouchers will be fought on the Senate floor this month.

Still, Senate Republicans said they were pleased with the plan. The agreement is an amalgam of proposals, including one from a group of moderate Democrats, led by Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut.

The Senate is expected to take up the education bill at the end of April. "We’ve done a good job of getting what the president wants," said Senator Judd Gregg, Republican of New Hampshire, who helped draft the agreement and who planned to offer the voucher measure on the floor.

The White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, called the compromise "a helpful move in the president’s direction."

But Democrats made clear today that the deal was far from sealed and that it would not be final until they knew how much money President Bush and Senate Republicans were willing to dedicate to education, particularly to low-income students. Both sides agreed that more money was needed. Federal dollars make up 7 percent of the money for schools.

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