The following are summaries of governors’ budget requests for precollegiate education and final action by legislatures on education-related matters.
Governors’ Proposals
NORTH CAROLINA
Governor:
James G. Martin (R) FY 1988-89 state budget: $5.99 billion (Approved July 1987)
FY 1988-89 K-12 budget: $2.76 billion
Addition to K-12 budget: $133 million
Percent change K-12 budget: +5 percent
Highlights
Additions to education budget proposed during this year’s short session include: $110.5 million to raise teacher salaries by 4.5 percent; $18.8 million to hire adult replacements for 17-year-old school-bus drivers; $3.5 million for eight pilot preschool programs for at-risk 4-year-olds; $12.5 million for programs for the gifted; $700,000 to expand “communities in schools’’ program.
Final Action
COLORADO
Governor:
Roy Romer (D)
FY 1989 state budget: $4.4 billion
FY 1989 K-12 budget: $1 billion
FY 1988 K-12 budget: $941.6 million
Percent change K-12 budget: +6 percent
Highlights
Approved a new $935-million school-finance formula intended to correct spending disparities among districts.
Authorized $1 million for a new pilot preschool program for 2,000 disadvantaged children who are handicapped or “linguistically different.’'
Relaxed home-schooling standards.
Created an “alternative route’’ to teacher certification.
VERMONT
Governor:
Madeleine M. Kunin (D)
FY 1989 state budget: $534 million
FY 1989 K-12 budget: $167 million
FY 1988 K-12 budget: $144 million
Percent change K-12 budget: +16 percent
Highlights
Approved an $18-million increase in state aid to school districts.
Revised the formula for distributing special-education aid to districts.
Earmarked $200,000 to create a center for the prevention and treatment of child sexual abuse, and $200,000 for a new educational telecommunications program.
