Other states are worse off

State schools Supt. Tom Luna noted that other states are looking at far more drastic cuts in public education. Florida is looking at a 16 percent cut, he said. Oregon closed an elementary school and furloughed all the teachers, and is cutting P.E. and music classes. Arizona is looking at a 19 percent cut for the coming year. “I think we’re in a much better spot,” he said, in part because lawmakers created the public school stabilization fund, a reserve fund that was tapped this year to protect schools from the 4 percent holdbacks that hit the rest of state government.