AUGUSTA – Members of the Legislature’s Education Committee are proposing that general purpose aid to education be reduced by $36.8 million – and that the state’s higher-education institutions receive cutbacks of more than $9 million – so that a target set by the Appropriations Committee to balance the state budget can be met.

“I don’t think anyone is happy about what we are proposing,” said Sen. Peter Bowman, D-Kittery, co-chairman of the Education Committee.

The committee was asked to recommend $47 million in cuts to help meet an expected additional shortfall in the state budget of $99 million. That is on top of a $95 million shortfall covered by Gov. John Baldacci’s proposed supplemental budget.

The panel concluded that the only way to reach the goal was to reduce planned school subsidies from the appropriated amount of just over $1 billion to $980.8 million.

“Given what we had to find to meet the goal, we had nowhere to go but to reduce GPA,” or general purpose aid to education, Bowman said. “That’s why we also had to cut the university, the community colleges and Maine Maritime [Academy].”

The recommendation by the panel would cut $6.2 million from the University of Maine System, $1.8 million from the Community College System and $300,000 from MMA.

Education Committee members – and Appropriations Committee members who heard the report – agree that the recommendations will be controversial. But Sen. Peter Mills, R-Cornville, a member of the education panel, rejected the notion that any decrease in school aid will result in a property tax increase.

“The substantial amounts of revenue that have been pouring into K through 12 from the state have not resulted in property tax reductions for the last three years,” he said. “There is no system at the state level to guarantee that any amount of money added to education will reduce property taxes.”

In 2004, Maine voters approved a referendum that required the state to pay 55 percent of the cost of elementary and secondary education. Since that vote, lawmakers twice have pushed back the date when the state will have to achieve the goal. The Education Committee now is recommending that the target for achieving the 55 percent level be set for budget year 2010.

“I am not sure we will ever be able to afford that goal,” Mills said.

Bowman said the committee certainly did not want to recommend any decreases in school aid or appropriations for higher education.

“What is important to me is what helps Maine’s economy improve,” he said. “We are having to cut what will help our economy in the long run.”

UMS Chancellor Richard Pattenaude told lawmakers that tuition and fees would have to go up by about 14 percent to offset the proposed reduction. He said an alternative to that would be a reduction in programs – the result of eliminating 150 to 200 positions.

“We are working to reduce costs and achieve efficiencies,” he said. “We have been doing that before these reductions were targeted.”

Pattenaude said several initiatives were under way that should yield savings in the future through collaborative efforts with state government and other public entities.

The community colleges estimate that 12 to 14 programs would have to be eliminated and faculty and staff reduced by 40 positions to meet a loss of $1.8 million. Approximately 450 fewer students would be enrolled if the cut were approved.

MMA said it is likely tuition and fees would be increased to offset any reduction in state funding, but that brought a question from Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, co-chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee.

“I would like to see if there is something else they could do to avoid tuition increases,” she said. “If they could find $1.4 million in a contingency fund to buy a new president’s house, they should be able to find $300,000 somewhere.”

But the proposed cuts are far from certain. Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said Baldacci has not endorsed the proposed cuts either to GPA or to higher education.

“He has instructed me to see other alternatives for him to consider,” she said. “He does not want to reduce GPA. He has made that clear.”

Gendron said several alternative budget cuts are being explored by the Education Department and she is not at liberty to discuss any of the possible options until the governor has been informed about them.

The Appropriations Committee has yet to vote on any of the recommendations from the Education Committee.