PHOENIX (AP) -- A bipartisan Senate budget proposal drew an endorsement from Gov. Janet Napolitano but was snagged by a dispute over a school-choice issue.

Senate leaders who had announced agreement on the proposal late Tuesday had planned for it to be considered Wednesday by the appropriations committee.

But Bob Burns, chairman of the appropriations committee, refused to proceed. He said the proposal should be modified to include two tax-law changes aimed at making it more convenient for people to make donations for private-school tuition grants and qualify for existing state tax breaks.

"Some folks might not feel it is an important issue but I feel it is a very important issue," Burns said. "We do not have a full agreement at this particular point."

Senate President Tim Bee, a Tucson Republican who with Democratic leader Marsha Arzberger had announced the agreement, deflected a reporter's question on whether it was made too soon. However, he acknowledged that the school-choice changes were important to some fellow GOP Republicans.

Napolitano, a Democrat, earlier said the proposal reflects many of her priorities but also incorporates compromises by both sides.

"There were some significant gives on my part but the vast majority of what I think we need for education, transportation and so forth are included in the budget, and I think it's a fair compromise and a fair plan for next year for Arizona," she said.

Napolitano said she'd sign the multi-bill package into law if it reaches her desk without last-minute surprises.

Burns, R-Peoria, convened and immediately recessed his committee, citing the Senate proposal's omission of two provisions sought by school-choice supporters.

One would allow paycheck withholding for contributions qualifying for tax credits. The second would permit a taxpayer to make a contribution until April 15 that could be for the previous tax year. The current cutoff is Dec. 31, the end of each tax year.

Both proposed changes, which are included in a rival House budget proposal, would help improve education by instilling competition, Burns said.

Sen. Carolyn Allen, a Scottsdale Republican who helped negotiate the bipartisan proposal, told Burns that she and another GOP moderate wouldn't cave on the issue.

"I'm not going to (yield) so are we going to stay here until another three months or whatever?" she asked Burns.

While Burns said the school-choice changes represent an unresolved issue, Democrats balked at modifying the announced package.

"No means no," said Sen. Paula Aboud, D-Tucson. "We shook on it. We had a deal."

A Democratic leader, Sen. Jorge Garcia of Tucson, said after the aborted committee meeting that he had received no immediate response from Republicans to his counterproposal to accept the school-choice changes in exchange for adding $100 million of spending for instruction of students learning the English language.

Asked Wednesday about the school-choice items, Napolitano said she objected to them because the dollar-for-dollar tax credits reduce state revenue and because the schools involved lack accountability in such areas as teacher standards.

Napolitano lobbyist Mike Haener later said the changes could encourage more people to claim tax credits but that he could not provide an estimate on how the changes could cost the state in lost tax revenue.

Ron Johnson, a lobbyist for Catholic schools, acknowledged that the changes could increase the amount of tax dollars diverted by contributions but said the goal is important.

"The whole point is to help the children attend the schools they want to," he said.

The surprise tangle over the school-choice provisions came a year after Napolitano, an opponent of state funding for private schools, accepted creation of a new corporate income tax credit for contributions for private-school tuition grants. She said she went along with that priority of many Republican lawmakers in order to win funding approval for all-day kindergarten and other priorities.

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