Revised California Budget Plan Could Blunt Impact on Schools

The cuts to education proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to help plug a huge hole in California’s fiscal 2009 budget won’t be as deep as the $4.8 billion originally projected for K-12 schools, under a revised plan he announced May 14.

But it remained unclear how many of the 14,000 teachers who received “pink slips” in March notifying them of impending layoffs would actually lose their jobs as school districts prepared to absorb some cuts. Final layoff notices were due May 15. ( "Thousands of California Teachers Await Layoff Fate," May 14, 2008.)

California faces a projected state deficit of $17 billion for the coming budget year, brought on by a slowing economy and the subprime-mortgage crisis. Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, told legislators in January that education would be among the...