ALL'S QUIET ON THE BUDGET FRONT -- UNTIL TODAY

posted by Michael Chihak

The Arizona Senate passed and sent to Gov. Jan Brewer on Friday a series of budget bills that put into place much bigger cuts in education than Brewer wanted. So far, there's been no comment from the governor, who had said in the last two weeks she was standing fast to preserve educational spending.

Her budget, introduced in January, called for $170 million in cuts for the three state universities, $71 million in cuts for K-12 and about $73 million, or half the state allocation, in cuts for community colleges.

Did she stand fast on those cuts and preserve educational spending? You be the judge.

The final budget heading for her desk Friday has $198 million in university cuts, $183 million in reductions for K-12 and $73 million less for community colleges.

Democrats were quick to criticize the governor.

"If (Brewer) was working to protect education, she failed," Senate Minority Leader David Schapira said.

"Gov. Brewer has failed. She has failed to stand up for education," Rep. Daniel Patterson said.