Later kindergarten saved $50 million

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.