PROVIDENCE — An unlikely coalition attempting to develop a statewide school-financing formula has broken apart just as the state grapples with a $600-million budget gap over two years, leaving the future of the ambitious plan in jeopardy.

A hearing to discuss the formula is scheduled for 1 p.m. today at the State House. The House Finance Committee will hear from a consultant hired last year to help lawmakers develop the formula.

Members of the Joint Committee to Establish a Permanent Education Foundation Aid Formula said they hoped the meeting would resurrect the discussion. But it is unclear if there is enough political support to approve the formula this year.

Governor Carcieri, who supported the concept last year, says it is not a priority.

“The coming year will be a very difficult time to be discussing increased state funding for local communities, and, in essence, that is what you are talking about when you talk about a school-funding formula,” said Carcieri’s spokesman, Jeff Neal. “Unfortunately, this is probably not the year it can happen.”

But Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline says that he and other municipal leaders have not given up.

“This is an extraordinarily difficult budget year, and it will be hard for legislators to find money to invest in a variety of important things,” Cicilline said. “But we can still move forward with the concept and plan to phase it in over a number of years.”

Last year, groups that often disagree with one another — teacher unions, business-backed economic and education policy groups, children’s advocacy organizations, mayors, Carcieri and state education officials — joined lawmakers to establish a financing formula for schools.

Developing the formula was touted as one of the state’s top priorities. Officials hoped it would provide a stable financing stream from the state to local schools, and relieve pressure on local property taxes. Yet after months of meetings and thousands of dollars in studies and consultants, the project’s momentum has stalled. Studies indicate that the formula would increase the state’s contribution to education — by $95 million to several hundred million a year — at a time when the state is facing serious budget shortfalls. State officials have already warned school districts to expect no increase in state aid for the coming school year.

The state now pays an average of 38 percent of local school costs. Advocates for the financing formula want the state average contribution increased to 44 percent over a period of years.

The proposals also call for the state to establish a “foundation” aid amount of between $10,000 and $11,000 per student, adding more money for certain groups, such as low-income, special needs, and English-language learners.

Some legislators balked, seeking a better accounting of school expenditures before millions more are pumped into education. Last June, the joint committee, chaired by Rep. Edith H. Ajello, D-Providence, and Sen. Hanna M. Gallo, D-Cranston, ended the session without passing a formula.

“I am hoping to push forward the concept of a formula even if there isn’t any money,” Ajello said in a recent interview.

However, the coalition cannot agree how to proceed.

Officials at the state Department of Education say they hope progress on a formula can continue, even in a limited form. They suggest that the state begin to assume the cost of key elements outside the control of local school districts over the next few years. Local districts would receive less school aid as the state absorbed the cost.

“Even if you can’t add money to the system right away, you can streamline the system and begin to shift responsibilities,” said Deputy Education Commissioner David V. Abbott.

Teacher unions disagree, saying cost shifting does not make sense without a formula in place, according to Robert A. Walsh, executive director of the Rhode Island chapter of the National Education Association.

But Valerie Forti, executive director of the business-backed Education Partnership, says districts would need to improve student performance in exchange for the increase in state investment.

“We didn’t want to give local districts more money without getting outcomes,” said Forti, whose group pulled out of the coalition last year. “The formula should require more from districts. It might require a certain kind of professional development for teachers, or give principals more control over teacher placement, or require a longer school day and year.”

jjordan@projo.com