ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Dennis Conrad

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP)—Lawmakers were at loggerheads Thursday over how to open the Chicago school system, with Republicans and Democrats moving in opposite directions from a plan proposed by Mayor Richard Daley.

Both sides said they were poised to propose their plans Friday but had not released details. And, both sides said their counterparts’ plans wouldn’t go anywhere.

Senate Republicans ended an afternoon-long caucus saying they wanted to reduce borrowing to $246 million, divert money from the pension fund and abolish supernumeraries.

Supernumeraries are teachers whose positions have been eliminated but who still get their salaries and benefits, and are first on a list to be rehired.

It would also require the Chicago Teachers Union to make even more concessions than the school board wanted and it would include a voucher system—both aspects Democrats vehemently oppose.

Gov. Jim Edgar, who spent two hours in the Senate GOP caucus, met briefly with legislative leaders Thursday night to see if a consensus could be reached to open schools next week.

‘‘If the teacher’s union is going to resist making concessions, if there is going to continue to be opposition by some Democrats … to some of the reforms that have to be made … we may not have the opportunity to see schools reopen,’‘ Edgar said.

Daley’s plan calls for borrowing $300 million for expenses this school year and next, using $55 million in pension funds and changing work rules to reduce staff costs, all of which would need permission from the Legislature.

No state money would be used.

A plan being offered by Senate Democrats would—among other things—raise the borrowing to $330 million and eliminate the pension diversion.

Sen. Frank Watson, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said the final draft of the Senate GOP plan remained unsettled because of caucus differences.

The internal debate focused on whether to write into state law the details of the concessions the teachers would have to make to the Chicago Board of Education, or leave that up to local negotiations.

The Greenville Republican said the stance taken by GOP senators on the borrowing and pension aspects of Daley’s plan would effectively require the teachers to make more concessions than what the school board has even sought.

The school board on Wednesday approved a budget reflecting Daley’s borrowing plan, even though the union rejected it Tuesday night.

Contract talks ended Thursday between the teachers union and school board with no progress reported and no time set for their resumption.

‘‘We have to draw a line in the sand at a certain point in time in which I think the concessions have to be given,’‘ Watson said. ‘‘The union, unfortunately, turned down what I thought was a very reasonable approach.’‘

Under the GOP proposal presented in caucus by Senate President James ‘‘Pate’‘ Philip, R-Wood Dale, a four-year pilot voucher program would be set up in Chicago for 2,000 students of low-income parents.

It would provide vouchers of up to $2,500 a year that could be redeemed at any private school. It would be funded from money taken from Chicago’s allocation of state education dollars.

Chicago schools were originally scheduled to open on Wednesday, but the school board pushed back the date until Sept. 14, even though the Legislature gave it permission to open on time without a balanced budget.

The union’s board of delegates voted Thursday to return to work next week, as well as to hold a strike vote Wednesday.

The waiver from the Legislature expires on Sunday and Edgar has said he is reluctant to extend it. Without additional legislative action, the schools cannot open.