$228 million as potential P-12 cut

$228 million is my quick estimate.

To calculate it, I started with the Council for Better Education's analysis of the 2008-10 general fund budget for P-12 education, available here. Three numbers from the 2008-09 column in that report:

• $4,141 million total funding
• $532 million for health insurance
• $212 million for the five line items for facilities

Subtract the health and facilities from the total to get $3,397 million, multiply that by the 6.7% the Governor has asked the Department to plan, and the result is $228 million.

That's a painful number.