A week of Senate infighting closed with a unanimous vote on tax cuts, school finance and education that put Gov. Rick Perry's tax reform package close to completion. But there was something more -- Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst got his ears pinned back by a group of (mostly) Republican senators who weren't willing to follow his lead on the key tax cut and education bill.

They've been grumbling for some time. They finally asserted themselves.

A week ago, a proposal to level education spending for more Texas school students split the Senate Finance Committee, prompting a walkout by a handful of Republicans who said it was unfair to districts with higher property values.

Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, led the walkout after trying to stop further changes. A surprised looking Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, wouldn't let her proceed, and she responded by leaving, followed by Sens. Kim Brimer of Fort Worth, Bob Deuell of Greenville, Kyle Janek of Houston, Jane Nelson of Lewisville, and Tommy Williams of The Woodlands. Ogden and Shapiro had stood next to Dewhurst a day earlier when the lieutenant governor told a press gaggle that stripping the legislation back to the House version wasn't an option the Senate would consider.

But Shapiro tried to do it anyway, removing everything the Senate had added the bill, including teacher pay raises, high school achievement money, uniform school start dates and a number of education measures. Ogden said he hit the brakes because he thought stripping the bill would kill it, and with it, the chance for a school finance fix in this special session.

(The walkouts included several of the Republicans who were angriest when 11 Democrats left for Albuquerque a couple of years ago to block congressional redistricting. The Republicans were careful to say they hadn't denied the committee a quorum and that work could continue in their absence. That differentiated them from the Democrats, for good and ill: They didn't stop the process, but they didn't stop the proposal they were against, either.)

Shapiro was trying to block an amendment by Sens. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, and Todd Staples, R-Palestine, which would have increased the percentage of students in what's called "the equalized system" to 96 percent from 90 percent. It would also have blocked richer districts from adding locally raised money to their own budgets until the poorer districts catch up with them. The poorer districts, in the meantime, would be allowed to use those local enrichment monies. That, according to Shapiro, was unfair. She told reporters she would rather kill the whole bill -- including property tax relief and pay raises for teachers -- than pass it with the Staples/Duncan proposal on board. And she said she had the votes, too. It turned out she did.

Janek said the bill that started the day treated all the districts fairly and that's why he opposed the changes from Duncan and Staples. Shapiro was blunter: "The purpose of this special session is to deliver property tax reduction and address the court's concerns; not create a personal piggy bank for certain members." She said the amendment created big state obligations in the "out years" -- the years after the current budget is over, when more and more students are brought into the system. And she said it wasn't fair to restrict local funds in some districts while allowing them in others.

But after lunch, Shapiro's Half Dozen were back in their seats. The amendment they didn't like was added to the bill, and the committee voted to send it to the full Senate for a vote.

In the days that followed, the arguments -- always behind closed doors, as is this Senate's habit -- got increasingly personal. Dewhurst at one point wanted the Senate to give up its effort to lower property taxes to $1, saying it was too expensive and couldn't be done with a teacher pay raise; $1.15 was suggested as a doable number. He appeared to be on board with Duncan and Staples, and part of a group that was pushing Ogden to take HB 1 away from Shapiro and sponsor it himself.

But Shapiro had added seven senators to the six who walked out with her, and that Baker's Dozen held together while she negotiated the bill back to something she liked. (The new names included one Democrat, Ken Armbrister of Victoria, and six Republicans: John Carona of Dallas, Kevin Eltife of Tyler, Troy Fraser of Horseshoe Bay, Chris Harris of Arlington, Mike Jackson of La Porte, and Jeff Wentworth of San Antonio.

They wanted the $1 target rate left alone. They wanted to get rid of the bits in the Duncan/Staples package they thought were hard on richer districts. They wanted to shave the 96 percent equity number for fear of its future costs. And they wanted to reinstate the "high school allotment" meant to boost performance in secondary schools. And they got most of that.

As it passed, the bill still had the structural look of the Duncan/Staples package. But rich districts won't have to share any of the four cents they were raising for local "enrichment." Poor districts would get equalizing money from the state (instead of recapture) to make their local enrichment taxes more lucrative. Another two cents could be added to that local money source a year later, also without recapture from the rich districts. The 96 percent number got shaved, but not by much. And a little more than half of the high school money was put back in.

A shuttle diplomacy team led by Dallas oilman and Republican political funder Louis Beecherl and his advisor Bill Ceverha came in to keep the House and the Senate and the governor's office all on the same sheet, serving the same function Tom DeLay served on congressional redistricting a few years ago.

And when they were voting and the Senate's unanimity was again in bloom, we ran into one of Dewhurst's policy folks. He said he had the sheet music for "Kumbaya."