Click the play button on the video window to the see the storyDemocrat lawmakers are blasting nearly $600 million in budget cuts passed last week by the Arizona legislature to alleviate the state's deficit.
In a news conference Monday morning, several party leaders outlined their disappointment with the reductions, emphasizing the impact the cuts will have on education and special needs.
As the minority party, Democrats were on the outside of the process to formulate a mid-year budget fix to erase a $1.6 billion deficit.
Gov. Jan Brewer gave final approval to budget plan Saturday.
It includes roughly $580 million in spending cuts, removes another $580 million from several special fund, and factors in $500 million in anticipated federal stimulus money coming to Arizona.
Of the most notable reductions, more $142 million was pulled from state universities and $133 million from K-12 education.
Presidents from all three of Arizona's major universities have been outspoken about the cuts and several protests and rallies have also taken place denouncing them.
But much less has been said about how the massive cuts will affect our state's primary education system.
Arizona Department of Education Superintendent Tom Horne said the cuts will impact the Arizona's K-12 schools, and that each school district in the state must cut two percent of its budget.
However, he said the cuts were manageable.
"Until now, schools have been spared," Horne said. "But now it's catch up time.
"I think it's reasonable considering what's happening across society," he said.
While not critical, the cuts do mean districts will have to make serious decisions about what to get rid of.
Horne said those cuts will likely include "soft capital" items, which are things like new textbooks and computers.
The good news is that after the latest cuts, no teachers will be taken out of the classrooms, Horne said.
But compared to this year, the state faces a budget deficit twice as large next year, topping $3 billion in the latest estimates.
However, Horne said federal stimulus money could ease much of next fiscal year's cuts relating to Arizona's primary education system.
