DES MOINES, IOWA (AP) -- Despite a crushing budget shortfall, Gov. Chet Culver is asking lawmakers for a 2 percent increase in local school budgets and wants the Legislature to restore $100 million that was cut from education in an across-the-board spending reduction.
Speaking Tuesday in his condition of the state speech, Culver called the money "a real shot in the arm for some of our schools."
Culver says he'll also push to continue expansion of health care insurance to all Iowa children, shift about $50 million from the state's road construction fund to help pay for the Iowa Highway Patrol and support the recommendation of a panel he created to reorganize state government.
He also says his budget will include money to ensure that preschool was available to all children.
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