The Senate Democratic Caucus operating budget writers just wrapped up their press conference in Olympia. The senators were not shy about the many painful decisions that were made in writing their budget.
Here’s a rundown of what they talked about relating to public education in their proposed budget:
- K-12 education would be cut by $877 million.
- I-728 and I-732 would largely be suspended. I-728 would be reduced by 93 percent.
- The Federal stimulus provided $410 million in critical funding to backfill cuts in the K-12 budget.
- Budget writers tried to clean up some of the uneven funding that has occurred between school districts.
- Higher education received substantial cuts on the order of $513 million. Tuition would rise by 7 percent at the 4-year universities and 5 percent at the community and technical colleges.
- The state need grant would receive an additional $45 million to offset the tuition increases.
- Education was the last place budget writers looked for cuts. However, each school district would still receive between a 2.5 and 3 percent cut in their budget.
This budget, if enacted, would have a very real negative impact to children and schools. We will detail some of these impacts in a blog post later today.
To view a summary of the budget and the full document, click here.
Don’t cut important school funding!