FRANKFORT — Kentucky will have a new school accountability testing system, a $3.7 billion, six-year road plan and $1.2 billion in appropriations for the first two years. The gas tax will remain the same.

The Kentucky General Assembly passed most of the major legislation before it and finished most work on schedule. And lawmakers did it without the end-of-session train wrecks that characterized recent sessions when at the last moment the two chambers couldn’t agree.

There was still some minor brinkmanship at the end. But this time, the Senate appeared to blink ever so slightly.

Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, said Friday morning the Senate would not pass a measure to lock in the gas tax which is necessary to fund $400 million of state projects in the road plan. Instead, Williams said, the Senate would pass the road plan, ask the House to concur with its changes, and then wait until March 26 when lawmakers return to consider vetoes by Gov. Steve Beshear before acting on the gas tax.

House Democrats, led by Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, balked. They wanted both to go to the governor Friday.

But late in the afternoon – when lawmakers returned to work following the televised University of Kentucky basketball game – word came that the two chambers would pass both bills – the House voting on the road plan as amended by the Senate while the Senate voted to pass the gas tax simultaneously.

But as the two chambers took up the two measures shortly after 5:30 p.m., one of Stumbo’s aides informed him the Senate had suspended its vote. Stumbo and Floor Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, each got on phones at their desks.

Instead of calling for a vote on the measure, Adkins then began a lengthy floor speech in which he commended everyone who worked on the plan and praised the road plan.

“This road plan will put people to work,” Adkins continued. It is a “committed effort across the aisle to make sure we all worked together.” His voice rising, Adkins proclaimed, “We came here for the people of the commonwealth. We ought to leave here with our heads held high.”

He was followed by others who raved about how well the process worked this time, about the good work this General Assembly had done. But then in walked the aide again with the message: “The Senate passed it.”

As Stumbo grinned, there were immediate calls from the floor: “Question! Question!” and the vote commenced, passing 87-3. Applause filled the House chamber.

That wasn’t all. The two chambers worked out a compromise to revise Kentucky’s school accountability test, ending the Commonwealth Account-ability Testing System or CATS, replacing the Kentucky Core Content Test, its key component, in the school year of 2011/2012.

The new test will include open response questions, criterion based standards – like the CATS test – but the test will take less time, must be administered n the final days of the school year, and will cost less.

It will also include multiple-choice, norm referenced questions which will allow the state to track individual student achievement from year to year, a key demand of the Senate. During the two-year transition, the state will continue using a portion of the KCCT to comply with the federal No Chile Left Behind Act. But writing portfolios will no longer be part of the test, although they will continue to be used as an instructional tool.

The Senate also passed Beshear’s economic development package which some had said might have to wait until lawmakers came back for the veto over ride days. A bill to establish bonding authorities to finance mega-transportation projects was left undone. But even that may pass this session. The two chambers will use the interim between Friday and March 26 to work out differences in a free conference committee. If they do, lawmakers could pass the bill on one of the final two days of the session, March 26 and 27.

Afterward, Stumbo said while there remain some differences between the House and Senate, the two bodies made significant strides toward working more cooperatively and in a bi-partisan manner. He called this year’s session the most productive of the so-called “short sessions” – or non-budgetary sessions – since voters approved an amendment to allow annual sessions.

Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. He may be contacted by email at rellis@cnhi.com.