Miss. Business Journal – Barbour takes questions after cutting budget a 3rd time
Gov. Haley Barbour was the keynote for today’s monthly luncheon meeting of the Stennis Capitol Press Corps in Jackson. Usually, speakers offer a 20- to 30-minute presentation before taking a few questions from the audience.
Barbour took the podium and started taking questions immediately. It was a nice change.
Anyway, Barbour didn’t say a whole lot that he didn’t say Friday, when he announced that he was making the third round of cuts to the state’s budget.
He did say that he thought “the vast majority of school districts will be fine” financially after the the latest round of cuts brought the total dollars shaved from the Mississippi Adequate Education Program to $170 million for fiscal year 2010. State Superintendent of Education Dr. Tom Burnham said Friday afternoon that the cuts would “devastate” the state’s public education system. School districts will have to lean heavily on their reserves, Barbour said, to make it to the end of the budget year. Included in Barbour’s executive budget recommendation is a $35 million set aside to assist those districts whose reserves are not as deep as others.
http://www.jacksonsnextmayor.com/ee/mp_sys/index.php?S=2ecf0dbfec26576eb70a0281508c0e847da1f1ea&C=publish&M=entry_form&weblog_id=1
Magnolia Tribune
