Arnold slashes budget

Sacramento

California’s largest teacher’s union this week endorsed a proposal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to cut $2 billion in education spending in his first budget. The union’s support will help Schwarzenegger deflect criticism—he promised during his campaign that he wouldn’t cut education. But the savings won’t eliminate a projected $14 billion deficit. Voters will decide in March whether to let the state borrow $15 billion, but that money would mostly go to covering the 2003 deficit. Schwarzenegger is proposing a raft of measures to make ends meet next year without raising taxes. “Virtually every aspect of state government is going to be asked to shoulder part of the savings and sacrifice to get our fiscal house in order,” said a Finance Department spokesman.

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