Budget Deal Reached, Sort Of

The legislature has reached a bipartisan budget agreement on K-12 education.

Public education will be funded at the level it was in '08-'09 which includes hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts.

The legislature agreed to fund the 2% automatic inflation called for in statute.

The legislature dropped all anti-teacher policy changes included in the budget vetoed by the governor.


But... the budget only funds 1/4 of the year. It expires October 1.

And... Career Ladder is NOT protected, nor are Excess Utilities (electricity, Internet, water, waste) funded at all.

So, it is bipartisan, but it is not a real budget since it only affects three months, instead of all 12.

Also conspicuously absent is any language about a 1% sales tax increase which the governor has said is a necessity of any budget for her to sign.

This puts the governor in a tight spot. Does she go against her word and sign a partial budget with no sales tax increase? Or does she risk over a billion dollars in federal assistance by vetoing it?

OR... does the legislature have "20 and 40".. meaning they can pass this piece of the budget with a veto-proof two-thirds majority in each chamber?