HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Republicans pushed a $175 million increase in funding for public schools through a House committee Monday night as part of a series of amendments to Gov. Brian Schweitzer's school finance proposal.

The GOP-controlled House Education Committee endorsed the measure, 8-7, along party lines after hours of contentious debate, although Constitution Party Rep. Rick Jore of Ronan voted against the bill. It now goes to the House floor for further debate.

Among the more than two dozen amendments considered Monday night was a GOP proposal that now ties the bill to Republicans' $200 million property tax relief proposal, saying each must advance together. Changes to all-day kindergarten and the way the school funding money is distributed also passed narrowly.

Democrats criticized the sweeping changes as "dangerous," but Republicans argued they better address the needs of all school districts than the governor's plan and ensure some form of property tax relief.

"You know what? Sometimes you've got to take a chance on improving the state," said House Majority Leader Michael Lange, R-Billings. "Sometimes you've got to take a little risk, and I don't mind doing that."

Passed by the Senate in January, Schweitzer's school funding bill contains money for nearly all of his education goals for the next two years, including inflationary increases for schools, student loan forgiveness for teachers, college scholarships and a program to fund school construction and upkeep.

None of those programs were cut Monday, but Republicans changed the way money for schools will be handed out and increased spending from roughly $98 million to $175 million over the next two years.

Most of the bill's funding is now on a per-school basis, with larger increases for elementary schools, rather than the per-educator basis proposed by Schweitzer and favored by teachers. The per-educator entitlement is still in the amended bill, and several new funding components have been added.

Republicans also struck all-day kindergarten from the measure and replaced it with "early childhood development programs" in an effort to give schools more flexibility. Schweitzer had wanted to fund voluntary all-day kindergarten statewide.

Democrats tried unsuccessfully to double the per-educator entitlement to $4,000, provide money for all-day kindergarten startup costs, increase Indian Education for All funding and apply inflationary increases to other funding areas.

Rep. Holly Raser, D-Missoula, and other Democrats said it's too early to completely revamp a funding formula that was just changed in 2005, and argued several of the components are wrongly driven by school enrollment.

"It is absolutely dangerous to make this magnitude of a policy decision on the 64th legislative day at 9 o'clock at night with absolutely no hearing," Raser said. "The last time we took a risk like this was something called deregulation, and I think we all know how well that turned out."

Lawmakers are still working under the shadow of 2004 court rulings that declared Montana's school funding system unconstitutional.

The Legislature spent most of 2005 approving more money for schools, reworking the funding formula and defining the components of a quality education. A state judge will consider whether to hold a hearing on the 2007 Legislature's progress on the issue after the session ends in late April.