Deal signs $42.4 billion budget

ATLANTA (AP) Gov. Nathan Deal has signed a $42.4 billion state operating budget, with improving revenues allowing the state to increase public education spending by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Deal signed the fiscal 2015 budget Monday, touting it as the largest single year increase in K-12 funding in seven years.

Besides the additional education funds, the state will increase spending on some programs that help low-income individuals, steer an additional $35 million to the expansion of the Savannah port and dedicate more than $14 million to improving Georgia's emergency response system after a January storm left thousands of motorists stranded on Atlanta-area highways.

The budget also includes $17 million for a parking deck next to the new Falcons stadium. Paying off the debt will cost about $30 million.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2014/4/274272