Read more: Local, State, Economy, Education, Jim Rex, Legislators, Teachers will Lose their Jobs, Continued Budget Cuts
Superintendent Jim Rex told a Senate Finance panel on Wednesday there are no good options left for reducing education costs.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina's schools chief told legislators that hundreds more teachers will lose their jobs and class sizes will rise under continued budget cuts.
Superintendent Jim Rex told a Senate Finance panel on Wednesday there are no good options left for reducing education costs. He likened the proposals to a person choosing whether to amputate his arms or legs.
Rex urged senators to find ways to raise money, rather than just cut services. He advocated raising the state's 7-cents-per pack cigarette tax to the national average to avoid requiring teachers take off five days without pay.
A House proposal on the budget that starts July 1 cuts funding for schools an additional 6 percent. That returns state spending on teacher salaries to 1995 levels.
(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
