Cutting to The Bone and Beyond

     Governor Bentley has asked the heads of Alabama's Public Education...K-12 and Higher Ed...how schools would be impacted f he were to declare 3% cuts in the current budget and 10% in the 2011-12 budget.

     Let's put that in the proper perspective. In September, outgoing Governor Riley cut the Education Budget by 9.5 % in 2010 and 11% in the previous year. If Bentley orders the proration he's asking about, it would mean  budget cuts of about 33% over the past few years. How do you operate a school system on 33% less money?

     Stimulus money (that the Alabama Congressional Delegation voted against) is gone, though it saved thousands of Alabama teacher's jobs.