State budget deal includes cuts for teacher salaries

A tentative agreement to fill Washington state's $5 billion budget shortfall includes cuts to teacher salaries.

Details of the $32 billion spending plan released Tuesday include a 1.9 percent cut for teacher pay and a 3 percent cut for other K-12 employees. Those changes will save the state $179 million over the next two years. Lawmakers are also moving to suspend voter-approved cost-of-living adjustments for education employees, saving another $300 million.

State employees face a 3 percent salary reduction, something that hasn't happened in decades of recent recordkeeping.

Senate Budget Chair Ed Murray told the Northwest News Network that,  in total the budget agreement moving through the legislature would cut $4.6 billion dollars in spending.

“There were sacrifices made in every single part of services provided by state government.”

Budget negotiators say they ended up making budget reductions totaling $4.6 billion.They covered an additional $500 million largely by transferring funds from various accounts