A new law that raised age requirements for kindergarten will save the state $50 million in education spending next year.

That's just about all the good news about the state's public education budget.

Lawmakers attended a briefing on education spending Wednesday and there was plenty of bad news. The projected budget deficit next year, as much as $2 billion out of a $21.5 billion budget, will require a hard look at the few areas of education that the state can cut -- teacher salaries and class sizes.

Education accounts for some 54 percent of state spending. The bulk of that money, $8.19 billion, was spent on public education in the current fiscal year. 

The state allots money to schools using a formula based on attendance. The number of children in schools has grown steadily since at least 1999. The coming year will be the first time the attendance number has dropped, according to the legislature's Fiscal Research Division. 

The reason for the drop, said analyst Kristopher Nordstrom, is that the state now requires kindergarten students to be 5 years old on or before Aug. 31. Previously, students could turn 5 in September.

The one-year savings produced by that change will equal $50 million, Nordstrom said.

The federal stimulus package would provide $1.1 billion to the state for education. But there are strings attached, Nordstrom said. To get the federal money, the state would have to spend as much on education as it did in the fiscal 2006 year. That amount is 16 percent lower than the current education budget.

The 2007 session ended late last night.

The legislature passed bills on a wide range of topics, some important, some not so much.

A few of the major bills will:

Prohibit new lagoons and sprayfields, set permanent standards for treating hog waste and create a program to help farmers convert to innovative waste systems.

Require state agencies with more than $10 million annual budgets, more than 100 full-time employees or more than $10 million in annual receipts to hire internal auditors.

Guarantee state-funded housing, counseling and other services for victims of a crime in which people, often immigrants, are imprisoned and forced to work for little or no pay.

Change birthday cutoff so fewer 4-year-olds will be eligible to start kindergarten.

Acknowledge the Wilmington Race Riot commission's findings and express "profound regret."

Throughout the morning, we'll list other bills that passed.

North Carolina kindergarten classrooms will have fewer 4-year-olds, starting in a two years.

The Senate gave final approval today to a bill that moves the statewide start date for kindergarten from Oct. 16 to Aug. 31, reports Lynn Bonner. The bill now goes to Gov. Mike Easley for his signature.

North Carolina has one of the latest birthday cut-offs in the nation, said Rep. Dale Folwell, a Winston-Salem Republican. The late cut off and some parents choosing to keep their children in pre-school an extra year leaves teachers trying to aim lessons at children with ages ranging from 4 to 6, he said.

"Our teachers are teaching to one of the widest cognitive spans in the United States," he said.

The younger children are often smaller than older classmates and are likely to be less adept academically, Folwell said.

A bill in the Senate education committee would delay kindergarten for some kids.

The Every Child Ready to Learn Act would not allow children to start kindergarten unless they had turned five by an Aug. 31 cutoff.

Under current law, they have until Oct. 16, although exceptions are made for gifted or otherwise mature children.

According to legislative research, the bill would affect 15,360 children in North Carolina.

The change would reduce county education spending for a few years, but it could boost the cost of the More at Four preschool program by as much as $32 million in 2009-10.

The bill passed the House and is being considered by the Senate education committee.

Hat tip: The Progressive Pulse