Educators, parents and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are calling shenanigans at how education funding is shaping up for the end of the 2008 legislative session.

Majority leaders from the House and Senate unveiled a list of funding priorities combined into one massive bill on Monday that includes items previously low on committee requests or on bills that were killed outright in the House.

"The process itself is what is in question here," said Rep. Carol Spackman Moss. "It feels like the process is not working when we spend hours in committee meetings ... and then our work is all for nothing."

While Moss is a Democrat from Salt Lake City, several Republicans in the House privately voiced grievances with how the money is being handled.

The appearance is that 14 members of the leadership group are making final decisions instead of two houses of the Legislature and their combined 104 members.

Among the items previously thought dead but now alive and well are millions for early childhood testing and millions more in the way charter schools receive funding.

Senate leaders defended their decisions late Monday, saying that by offering the omnibus bill lawmakers could see how the education funding would work as a whole and not piecemeal. That would also mean all education funding could be decided on single yea/nay vote.

"By having all that debate condensed in the same timeframe, we're going to make sure that the Legislature and public will have a chance to look at it fairly," said Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper.

Educators said they don't want a lot of little funding methods but would rather see it dumped into the weighted pupil unit so that districts can decide what to do with it.

"When I started here, all I heard about was local control," Moss said.

Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said his caucus is lined up and that while the education bill may contain a lot, there will still be time to amend it if lawmakers feel that strongly about certain items.

One item facing serious scrutiny is pay raises for math and science teachers. Stephenson said it's a specific area the Legislature can make a difference in the teaching of children and preparing them for the jobs of the future. Educators say that school districts already have some leeway in paying teachers differently based on need and that's where it should remain.

"All 40 of our districts do not look the same across the state," said Sarah Meier, president of the Granite School District Board.

Even when getting more money, education officials are unhappy with the way it's being handled saying that again the Legislature is being too specific with money that should be handled by the district.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. requested and is getting an additional $25 million for one-time teacher bonuses. Signing bonuses will account for $5 million of that with the remaining $20 million going toward performance-based bonuses.

"This was the governor's proposal," Valentine said. "We're trying to implement his proposal."

The bill will be debated over the next two days.