House leaders moved
quickly Thursday to approve a $276 million spending increase for the rest of
this fiscal year.
The midyear budget,
which runs through June 30, includes $128 million extra for school systems with
growing enrollments, and $40 million for economic development grants. It also
contains:
$35 million to expand
broadband Internet connectivity in local school districts.
$16 million to pay for
rising costs in Medicaid, the state health care program for the poor and
disabled, brought about by the federal Affordable Care Act.
$5 million to hire 103
additional caseworkers in the Division of Family and Children Services.
$4.8 million to begin
medical marijuana trials.
$515,000 to establish
a Georgia Film Academy to train future employees for the state’s growing film
industry.
The spending plan also
contains language supporting the idea of providing health coverage to school
bus drivers and cafeteria workers.
House leaders added
that phrasing in response to Gov. Nathan Deal’s proposal to save $103 million
by discontinuing state subsidies for health insurance for about 11,500
part-time school staffers.
The Deal proposal is
in the budget for fiscal 2016, which begins July 1. The part-time staffers
would lose the insurance as of Jan. 1.
No comments:
Post a Comment