Gov. Riley Announces More Cuts To Education Budget

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Gov. Bob Riley has increased cutbacks in
the state education budget because of declining tax collections.

Riley had declared 9 percent proration in December. But he
increased it 2 percentage points to 11 percent on Friday.

Proration is the process of cutting appropriations when revenues fall short of projections

Riley said tax collections for education have dropped 10 percent
since December. At the same time he increased proration, he took
the remaining $116 million out of a state rainy day fund to help
schools from having a worse spending cut.

Riley says the latest cutback means the state will spend $5.7
billion on education this fiscal year. That's down $1 billion from
fiscal 2008.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)