State officials are telling schools to brace for one more round of cuts before summer.
State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister told districts $13 to 17 million will be cut from school funding in the next month.
"This is really going to be gut-wrenching for districts to receive this news at this time at such a truly large amount of money,” Hofmeister said.
That will affect schools' abilities to pay their bills, and may force them to dip into any savings they may have. Hofmeister blamed the cuts on lower-than-expected gross production tax revenue.
Schools have lost $109 million so far this year due to revenue failures. However, Gov. Mary Fallin took $51 million out the rainy day fund to soften that blow.
Hofmeister said she understood lawmakers have to balance the Fiscal Year 2017 budget while dealing with a $1.3 billion shortfall, eCapitol’s Christie Southern reports:
She called on lawmakers to adequately fund common education, calling it a "constitutional and moral responsibility," "Our children deserve to have access to high quality education. Every single one of them…each deserves something better," she said. The superintendent also called on lawmakers to reach a conclusion to the state's testing dilemma before they wrap up the legislative session in May. "We do believe there are ways to minimize testing. We're still calling for the end of EOIs and working with legislators. The will is there; we hope that there will be a way," Hofmeister said.
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