Sen. Dean Cameron
Idaho public education wouldn’t have to cut its budget this year but faces millions of dollars less in 2011, under a likely budget scenario introduced by budget leaders.
Sen. Dean Cameron and Rep. Maxine Bell, chairs of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, laid out a $178 million cut to the original 2010 budget on Thursday morning. That would reduce general fund spending to just $2.35 billion, from $2.5 billion expected when the 2009 Legislature left Boise last May. The plan reflects concern tax revenue through June will fall to just $2.28 billion.
Public schools, which had feared a midyear holdback, would use remaining federal stimulus funding, plus cash from a public education rainy day account, to avoid trimming teacher pay mid-contract.
Come July 1, however, they would lose $86 million. (AP)
