After hearing the governor's proposals for spending stimulus money and adjusting Idaho's state budget - largely by boosting road spending and cutting everything else - Senate Finance Chairman Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, said, "I applaud the governor in his desire to protect the infrastructure of the state - that's important. But the infrastructure of the state is not just roads - it's corrections, it's state police, it's education. We can't afford to let that infrastructure slide. We only get a chance once to educate a child in the first grade or to teach 'em to read. If we fail in that infrastructure, it'll be much more painful ... than in roads."

Cameron said, "My preference isn't to hit education that hard, but the committee will have to decide where it goes." He predicted, "We'll find middle ground," and said, "We have all the pieces on the table. It's our job to put this puzzle together."

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