Labour's Neil Findlay, the education committee's deputy convener, described the bill as "a real dog's breakfast".
Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, the soon-to-be chairman of the education committee, could drive the price tag higher.
Councillors on the education committee will decide on Thursday whether to launch a consultation on merger plans.
Conservative Gail Macgregor, who chairs the education committee, said the move would not harm pupils needing support.
Sir Robert Salisbury was giving evidence to the Education Committee on the review of the Common Funding Scheme.
The figures emerged in answer to an assembly question from the chair of the education committee Mervyn Storey.
"These discussions were never about education otherwise they would have taken place in the Education Committee, " said Mr O'Dowd.
Mervyn Storey of the DUP is chairman of the Education Committee: he questioned whether the issue was being taken seriously enough.
The full council in Powys rubber-stamped the decision, which had already been backed by the education committee and board last month.
And the Education Committee (at 9.30am) has a session on the 2012 Ofsted Annual Report, with Sir Michael Wilshaw, HM Chief Inspector, .
Mr Russell told the Education Committee delay to the new exam courses relating to the new curriculum could be damaging for pupils.
Earlier in his career, as chairman of the education committee, he worked smoothly with Democrats on George Bush's No Child Left Behind Act.
MSPs unanimously backed the education committee's motion after a debate on its inquiry in to the educational attainment of looked-after children, on 11 January 2011.
Elsewhere, the Education Committee (at 9.30am) holds a promising-looking one-off evidence session with three recently defenestrated education ministers: Tim Loughton, Nick Gibb, and Sarah Teather.
Proposals to be considered by the education committee on Tuesday said the new test would be brought in from September 2014 under a new procurement process.
Meanwhile the Education Committee continues its inquiry into attracting, training and retaining the best teachers - with an evidence session at the York Guildhall at 3pm.
In May, education officials met with Rep. George Miller of California, the top Democrat on the Education committee, and told him they were prepared to move ahead with waivers.
Giving evidence to the Education Committee on 28 July 2010, he said that investment in school buildings in England would continue, despite the "hype" over the abolition of BSF.
Addressing members of the education committee, Adrian Arbuthnot explained that, although trends over the past six years showed improvements, there had been a slow down in the speed of change.
The concerns were raised as the education committee scrutinised the government's Post-16 Education Bill, including provisions for college regionalisation, which could see mergers or institutions working together more closely.
Only on Tuesday of this week I put a similar amendment which was completely rejected by the education committee on this bill and now the executive's bringing its own amendment forward.
The Education Committee (at 9.30am) will hold a one-off evidence session on Child Sexual Exploitation in Gangs and Groups, with evidence from Sue Berelowitz, the Deputy Children's Commissioner, and Edward Timpson, the children's minister.
The Education Committee will explore the role of health visitors in helping children to be ready for school, taking into account recommendations made in recent reviews on Early Years, Early Intervention and Poverty and Life Chances.
In Committee land the education committee ponders the revised schools admission and appeals codes and the Public Accounts Committee returns to one of its favourite topics, HM Revenue and Customs annual accounts, with the top brass of HMRC.
BBC: Viewing guide: The coming week's highlights in Parliament
Giving evidence to the Education Committee on 27 July, Tim Byles, from Partnerships for Schools, said the list of schools affected by the decision to cancel BSF should have been double-checked with local authorities by the Department for Education.
There is some corking business on the Committee Corridor, where the Education Committee hears from some of the star-educators at Jamie's Dream School - including David Starkey Jazzie B and Robert Winston, in a one-off session on the issues around teaching "challenging" children.
Active not just on the fashion circuit but in several nonprofits, the New Yorker serves on the Education Committee for the Board of Trustees at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is a member of the International Committee of the Museum of Modern Art.
The Education Committee (9.30am) has a session with members of the high-powered Academies Commission set up by the Royal Society for the Arts to look at the implications of the drive towards a fully academised system - and which questioned if it was justified by the evidence.
That has had little effect so far, although one United Russia deputy, Vladimir Burmatov, stepped down from his post as head of the education committee amid allegations that he had poached much of his dissertation on teaching methods from another published four years earlier at a university in Bryansk.
Katrina Godfrey of the Department of Education briefed the committee on the Education (Levels of Progression for Key Stages 1, 2 and 3) Order (NI) 2012.
应用推荐