The following are summaries of final actions by legislatures on education-related matters.
ARIZONA
Governor: Fife Symington (R)
FY 1994 state budget: $3.7 billion
FY 1994 K-12 budget: $1.44 billion
FY 1993 K-12 budget: $1.38 billion
Percent change K-12 budget: +4 percent
Highlights
- Legislature failed for the second consecutive year to adopt a package of reform bills recommended by the Governor’s education task force.
- Finance measure for the first time requires districts participating in voluntary career-ladder program to shoulder one-third of program’s costs.
- Lawmakers failed to approve an inflation factor in school budget, effectively cutting per-pupil expenditures by $15.
FLORIDA
Governor: Lawton Chiles (D)
FY 1994 state budget: $13.2 billion
FY 1994 K-12 budget: $5.45 billion
FY 1993 K-12 budget: $4.95 billion
Percent change K-12 budget: +9 percent
Highlights
- Legislature approved $55 million from general fund and lottery for public school technology enhancement.
- Legislature guaranteed 2.94 percent increase per weighted full-time-equivalent student.
- Governor’s proposal to remove sales-tax exemptions to fund education and other services did not pass legislature.
NEW YORK
Governor: Mario M. Cuomo (D)
FY 1994 state budget: $32.1 billion
FY 1994 K-12 budget: $8.88 billion
FY 1993 K-12 budget: $8.55 billion
Percent change K-12 budget: +3.8 percent
Highlights
- Legislature revamped funding formula to use poverty, non-English-speaking students, and rural sparsity as factors for determining extra aid.
- Budget approved by legislature added $330 million to education spending.
- Governor proposing legislation that would place tighter controls on boards of cooperative educational services, which deliver services to regions, after reports surfaced about a superintendent who retired last fall with a retirement package of nearly $1 million.
- State board of regents has approved pilot program of compulsory work experience for high school students.
