An announcement that top city schools would get cash rewards for winning “A” grades set off a fierce and personal debate yesterday over the direction Mayor Bloomberg has taken the city’s schools, with city and Albany officials drawing on their children’s experiences to make opposing cases.

The schools chancellor, Joel Klein, had just finished announcing that he would be sending $3.4 million in rewards to schools that scored “A” grades on the report cards the city handed out recently, when Assemblyman Mark Weprin, of Queens, stepped to the podium and condemned the report cards, the letter grades, and the Bloomberg administration’s education record.

Mr. Weprin represents the Bayside neighborhood where the school at which Mr. Klein held the event, P.S. 46, the Alley Pond School, is located. The school is getting more than $14,000 in rewards for its “A” grade and a top mark on a qualitative review. Every city school that met those designations, 134 in total, is receiving $30 a child.

Mr. Weprin said the reward was welcome, but he went on to criticize the way the schools are now being run. He said the emphasis on test-taking is growing so strong that children are paying a price in terms of anxiety. “This has been a boon for pediatric psychotherapists in the city,” he said.

City officials called Mr. Weprin’s argument absurd, citing P.S. 46 as a prime example of the way schools can improve on their report card grades: not by focusing on tests but instead by giving a well-rounded education.

A top aide to Mr. Klein who attended yesterday’s event, James Leibman, said his children, who attend public schools in Manhattan, do not mind being tested. “My kids like to be challenged,” he said.

The superintendent of the school network to which P.S. 46 belongs, Judith Chin, said some schools in the city are emphasizing test-taking skills too heavily. But she praised P.S. 46 for striking a good balance between teaching a well-rounded curriculum and making sure students are ready for tests.

Visiting a fourth-grade classroom before the announcement, Mr. Klein asked children why their school received an A.

“Because,” one child answered, “when the New York State ELA test is coming up, they teach us what methods to use, how to write.”

Another boy added: “They do everything to help us with our ELA and all our tests.”

Mr. Klein then asked, “Do we do any art in this school?”

The school’s art teacher, Rita Rothenberg, said she works with most of the school’s students once a week, though that particular class of fourth-graders does not visit her at the moment. And all students at P.S. 46 attend an enrichment program that includes activities such as dancing, photography, and a music class called “So You Think You Can Sing?”

The co-president of the school’s Parent Teacher Association, Donna Benkert, said the program would not exist without the help of the PTA, which raises between $20,000 and $25,000 in donations each school year.

The president of the city teachers union, Randi Weingarten, said the new cash rewards unfairly neglect schools that received low grades.

“A” schools are receiving rewards on the condition that they share ideas and best practices with poorer performers. Ms. Weingarten said that is not enough. “What support and resources are being directed to schools that are falling behind?” she asked.