Kaine says school cuts may wait a year
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Gov. Tim Kaine, right, talked with mothers concerned about budget cuts at the YMCA Piedmont Family Center in Charlottesville two years ago. Kaine visited the center to help illustrate problems caused by tight budgets. |
RICHMOND -- Governor Tim Kaine says cuts to state agencies could range from 2 percent for some to 20 percent for others, but the cuts to schools will probably be delayed until next year.
On his monthly radio call-in show on the Virginia News Network, Kaine said every line item in the two-year, $77 billion budget is subject to cuts, including layoffs.
Stewart MacInnis, a spokesman for Virginia Military Institute, says the college did not yet know how powerfully the budget cuts will hit. MacInnis said VMI expects cutbacks in travel and will have to limit purchases to the bare essentials.
“The cut will be constraining, but at this point, the impact will remain largely unknown by the cadets,” he said.
Virginia's budget faces a possible shortage of nearly $3 billion.
State agency chiefs face a deadline of Friday to submit contingencies for slicing spending by 5 percent, by 10 percent and by 15 percent.
Kaine said the cuts would be specific and targeted, some very small and others perhaps as large as 20 percent. But because it's tough to cut school costs once an academic year has started, education cuts may be made next fall.
Claudia Vincenti of The Rockbridge Report contributed to this story.
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