AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The U.S. Department of Education has rejected Texas' application for an $830 million federal schools money and asked the state to resubmit its request without conditions.

The state's application included a line noting that Texas' constitution and laws supersede any assurances made by the governor in the application.

In a letter to Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott on Wednesday, federal officials said they could not award the money to Texas because of the "conditional assurances" included in its application.

Scott and Gov. Rick Perry have balked at a provision in the federal law that requires Texas to make additional assurances to the feds about how its schools will be funded for the next three years.

Perry argues that by complying with the provision, he would be violating the state constitution.

The letter from the Department of Education asked Scott to resubmit the application without the conditional language.

"Based on our conversations with you and other state officials it is our understanding that the state envisions submitting an application at a later date that does not contain conditional assurances," Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana wrote in the rejection letter to Scott. "Please inform us as soon as possible when the state intends to submit such an application."

The money, intended to help school districts cope with the recession and avoid layoffs, would help save more than 14,000 jobs in Texas schools, according to estimates from the National Education Association.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, the Austin Democrat who added the Texas amendment to the federal bill, called the protests "phony legalistic arguments."

He and other Democrats say the provision isn't unconstitutional and Perry should simply agree to the terms so schools can get the money intended to spare them from layoffs.

"In another act of bad faith, the governor knew that his alteration of a federal application for education funds would only delay the immediate federal support that Congress voted to provide our local schools," Doggett said Thursday. "Solely because of his willful alteration of the federal application, schools across Texas will have millions less available now to meet local education needs."

Perry and others point to a provision in the state constitution that says no "appropriation of money be made for a longer term than two years." That means, Perry says, he can't guarantee state funding in future years.

Democrats in Congress said they put forth the provision, which also would bypass state lawmakers and send the federal aid directly to school districts, because of the way the state handled federal stimulus dollars last year.

Texas lawmakers used $3.2 billion in federal stimulus money to replace state money and ended the legislative session with billions in the state's Rainy Day Fund, Doggett said.

Doggett says the Texas provision in the jobs bill was intended to ensure state officials didn't divert education dollars to other parts of the budget if they received more federal aid.

The flap comes as schools across Texas are grappling with scaled-back budgets and dipping into reserves to supplement stagnant state funding.

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