Education leaders plead for sane cuts

After listening to hours of presentations and studying pages of numbers Wednesday afternoon, the Legislature's Public Education Appropriations Committee decided to "sleep on it."

The committee plans to meet again at 2 p.m. Thursday for more discussions before making a recommendation on how state public education should slice its fiscal 2010 budget.

"Public education is our number one priority. It's our children," said committee member and Senate budget chair Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan.

Right now state public education has already cut $73.9 million, or 3 percent, for 2008. They also made $195.2 million, or 8 percent, in ongoing cuts for 2009.

At the same time, the state is looking at needing $75 million to fund projected enrollment growth, which is predicted to be a 2.4 percent increase of students for the 2009-2010 school year.

Deputy Superintendent Larry Shumway pointed out to the committee that any cuts are painful for education — and sometimes there just isn't anything left to trim. To make his point, Shumway jokingly suggested cutting the twelfth grade altogether. "Let's not make crazy cuts," he said.

State Superintendent Patti Harrington presented to the committee various scenarios for future cuts.

The state could use rainy day funds, federal stimulus money, and school district funds. Double sessions or year-round education could be used to avoid new construction costs, Harrington said.

The state could implement five days off without pay for all school employees and related offices. School programs can be prioritized and sliced, she said.

Harrington said she doesn't want to cut the student's basic experience. She doesn't want to lay off teachers, increase class sizes, remove transportation, or ax social security or retirement.

"The children expect to come to school and have a great teacher there," Harrington said, adding lunch, schoolroom equipment and technology has to stay as well.

E-mail: astewart@desnews.com