OKLAHOMA CITY — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister made the following comments today regarding the state of Oklahoma’s deepening budget cuts.
State finance officials told the Associated Press that Oklahoma schools, prisons and other state agencies will have their budgets cut by an additional four percent for the rest of the year.
Those additional cuts are expected to equal close to $235 million.
Public schools alone will have nearly $110 million cut from their budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30.
“This is a brutal time for schools. A second General Revenue failure means schools will have lost nearly $110 million since the start of the spring semester alone, and that does not take into account next fiscal year, which looks equally bleak. Efforts that districts are making to cope with these cuts today will further impact the next school year, as they are forced to significantly deplete their cash-fund balances,” Hofmeister said.
She goes on to say, “The Oklahoma State Department of Education has worked hard to minimize the cuts’ impact on instruction, but we are no longer able to soften the blow. Many rural districts indicate they will immediately initiate a four-day school week for the remainder of the school year. Educators are facing heartbreaking decisions that ultimately will affect students in the classroom. Our schoolchildren are the ones who will pay the steepest price.”
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