By Laura Weber, Michigan Public Radio Network
LANSING, MI – A state Senate committee approved a $628 million budget cut for Michigan's K-12 schools.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has been making sweeping cuts this week in an effort to plug the state's $1.7 billion deficit for the coming fiscal year.
State Senator Ron Jelinek chairs the committee. He says education is important, but deep cuts are necessary because the money simply isn't there to fund some programs: "We have a few priorities - certainly public safety is important, public health and public education. So it's high. But everything has to have some preference. We can't just wipe out some budgets for other budgets. We have to reduce them."
The K-12 budget cuts will go to the Senate floor next week.