K-12 Cuts Loom Again as States' Fiscal Woes Continue

With Budget Gaps Growing, About Half Expect K-12 Cuts

Budget pressures still have a tight grip on most of the states and are already leaving governors and lawmakers little choice but to cut as they prepare, debate, and settle on new funding for public schools.

About half the states are poised to slash spending on K-12 education in fiscal 2011, while another handful are expected to keep funding level for public schools, said Daniel G. Thatcher, a fiscal and education policy associate at the Denver-based National Conference of State Legislatures .

Only a small number of states—Massachusetts and Pennsylvania among them—are proposing any kinds of increases, and those...