State avoids teacher layoffs, pares education budget

The budget-writing Joint Finance Committee (JFC) in Delaware voted Wednesday (May 21, 2008) to pare about $29 million from the public education budget for the coming fiscal year, keeping a pledge to avoid layoffs but cutting money for everything from bus replacement funds to the Delaware Student Testing Program (DSTP).

The cuts, which still need approval by the General Assembly once the final budget bill is written, were approved unanimously after three days of closed-door negotiation by the JFC. The panel is trying to erase a projected $217.3 million shortfall for the budget year that begins July 1.

Cuts to the DSTP total $2.7 million and would be achieved by eliminating the writing portion of the test for the third, fourth, sixth, seventh and ninth grades, as well as by reusing old test forms. Cutting the reading portion of the test would still leave Delaware in compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind law, JFC members said. Read more in The News Journal online.