ATLANTA (Mar. 19, 2008) — Georgia will likely not receive 557 new school buses as proposed earlier this year due to cuts in the state’s mid-year budget.

In his January State of the State address, Gov. Sonny Perdue had proposed a $65 million package for improving K-12 education, including $25 million to purchase new buses. The remaining funding was slated to go to technology. But those funds came under scrutiny as the House and Senate shaped a revised $300 million spending plan.

Last week, Perdue recommended a number of cuts, including the provisions for additional buses and technology, because the state wasn’t taking in as much tax revenue as had been anticipated. A spokesman for the governor attributed the cuts to the current national economic slowdown that had until recently not been widely felt in Georgia.

Dana Tofig, a spokesman for the Department of Education, stressed this funding was "above and beyond the normal yearly allocation for buses." Tofig said the Department of Education will still receive $169 million for operations and bus replacement on the FY 2009 budget.

According to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, the new mid-year budget would likely be approved by both the House and Senate on Thursday.