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State Schools Superintendent Tom Luna called the public school budget set by lawmakers this morning “a very manageable number,” despite including historic cuts. “I think one of the telling things we learned this morning is that both the Democrats and the Republicans realized that education was not going to be held harmless,” Luna told Eye on Boise. “My focus was to minimize cuts to teacher pay and to minimize cuts to classroom programs.” Luna noted, “We still have over $100 million available for the next fiscal year if revenues continue to go down.” That’s because Republican lawmakers on the joint budget committee declined to tap into the state’s public education stabilization fund, which still has $114 million in it.
Luna said, “We found some balance. It took a lot of work and a lot of effort, because everyone was trying to minimize the cuts to education.” He added, “It’s not a pleasant situation to find ourselves in. I think we did the responsible thing.”
Betsy Z. Russell covers Idaho news from The Spokesman-Review's bureau in Boise.
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