News Room

State Representative Brian White issues statement on education funding

"Funding for K-12 education is a top concern for the legislature this year. Currently, the General Assembly is writing a state budget that accounts for a $525 million revenue shortfall. To deal with this shortfall, all state agencies and services have to make painful cuts.

K-12 funding is 38 percent of the entire state budget or $2 billion. If we spared this portion of the budget from the across-the-board cuts, the state would be forced to shut down a number of state agencies completely.

The General Assembly consistently has worked to minimize the reductions to K-12 education while allowing districts flexibility in how they use state funds. Our goal is helping districts keep teachers employed to keep class sizes small.

One provision in the budget, which was also included in last year's version, permits a district to furlough administrators for up to 10 days and teachers for up to 5 days to avoid a year-end deficit. These types of furloughs are being used across many state agencies to deal with budget cuts. Difficult times call for tough decisions. While furloughing school staff is difficult, it is preferable to districts having to lay off teachers. We hope that districts will be able to balance their budgets without the need for staff furloughs, but we are giving them options to help them weather these lean times."