Governor Schwarzenegger’s January budget included 4.4 billion dollars in cuts to schools next year. Republicans say their plan would reduce that by about half. G-O-P Assembly leader Mike Villines says they’d do that by delaying a new education program and putting off some payments. He says they’d also need to cut in other areas. "We can find it in corrections, or if we can find it in health and welfare or if we can find it wherever, in the bureaucracy, in unspent funds, anything like that. That’s where we’ll look.” Democratic Assemblyman John Laird said though more money for schools is a step in the right direction, it’s the wrong approach to cut from other programs: “What they’re saying is we’ll hurt kids in child care, health care, parks and everywhere else to help kids in schools.” Democrats have maintained that tax increases are needed to help balance the state’s multi-billion dollar shortfall.