The Board of Education OKs
a new cut that puts the loss
at $19.5 million

By Rod Thompson
Star-Bulletin

KAILUA-KONA -- The state Board of Education has approved $4.6 million in additional cuts in the Department of Education's fiscal year 2000 budget, bringing the total to $19.5 million.

Meeting in Kona last night, the board made the latest cut at the request of Gov. Ben Cayetano, who had informed members that a shortfall in state tax revenues made it necessary.

In a written report to the board, Superintendent of Education Paul LeMahieu said the cut -- referred to as an executive restriction -- would be made without taking back any funds already given to schools and without cutting any positions.

Instead, carryover funds from 1998 and 1999 will be applied against the restrictions.

That didn't succeed in pleasing board members, who, despite voting for the $4.6 million restriction, unanimously voted for a statement saying they "strongly opposed" the cuts.

The total of $19.5 million in cuts since this summer represents about a 2 percent decrease in the department's $980.8 million budget.

"The bad news is these are monies the schools do indeed definitely need," LeMahieu said. "The good news is we were able to meet these figures without any cuts of levels of support for the schools."

The department had been holding back expenditures in anticipation of an even deeper cut. The $4.6 million represented roughly a mid-level estimate of what cuts might be.

Because the cut wasn't as bad as feared, the board was able to release a small amount of additional money to the schools, $350,000. The board agreed to put the money in an account that allows schools broad flexibility in using it.

The cut last night followed a shortfall of $14.9 million in what the department requested from the Legislature, but the Legislature failed to fund.

For example, the department asked for $2.3 million to clean classrooms, but got no money for that. Classrooms still have to be cleaned, and the money had to be taken from other intended uses, said department information officer Greg Knudsen.

The situation next year is expected to be worse, since the Legislature already appropriated $16.8 million less than the department asked for.

And next year's cut by the governor is expected to grow to at least $7.3 million and possibly as high as $13.3 million.

In other action, the board approved a $196,000 cut from the $19.6 million budget of the state library system.