With a significant decline in state revenue because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Mike DeWine made $775 million in cuts –including $465 million in education — to balance the state budget.

“Decisions like this are extremely difficult,” he said Tuesday in announcing the cuts.

Those reductions are:

l $300 million in K-12 education foundation funding;

l $55 million in other K-12 education budget line items;

l $110 million for higher education;

l $210 million in Medicaid spending;

l $100 million in cuts from other state agencies with details not disclosed — except that all agencies, except the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, will be impacted.

The cuts would take effect immediately and run through June 30, the last day of the state’s 2020 fiscal year, DeWine said.

The primary and secondary education reduction is equal to about a 3.7 percent cut, he said. Education for kindergarten through grade 12 state funding is about $9.8 billion.

“If we don’t make these cuts now, the cuts we will make next year will be more dramatic,” he said.

The state’s budget is $32.4 billion with about 85 percent of it funding Medicaid, K-12 education and higher education. Medicaid provides health coverage to those with low incomes and with disabilities.

DeWine said he won’t tap into the state’s $2.7 billion rainy day fund now because that surplus is going to be needed for the next budget year, which begins July 1, and the following one.

The state’s revenues were about $200 million ahead of projections at the end of February, but dropped to $776.9 million below the budget’s estimate at the end of April because of the pandemic, he said.

“As you can see, this is close to a $1 billion swing downward in just two months,” he said.

DeWine added: “The cruel nature of an economic downturn is that at the time of when you are in need of the social safety net is also the time when government revenues shrink. We are trying to preserve basic services for people while we get through this period. This is why we need stability. I know that I have said that it’s raining, but we do not want to tap into that fund yet.”

DeWine said the current problem is “a passing spring shower. It could be, we really don’t know. But it could be a long, cold, lingering storm. We should not use that rainy day fund until we have to.”

The Ohio Federation of Teachers expressed immediate concern over the proposed education cuts.

“Our K-12 schools need more resources, more technology and more staff to meet our students’ growing emotional, physical, and academic needs,” president Melissa Cropper said in a statement.

DeWine won’t have a news conference today though he said Tuesday that more details of the spending cuts were to come today. This will be the first time he will not have a news conferenceweekday news conference since he started doing them about two months ago. He said he won’t have one because the state Legislature will be in session today.

DeWine said he expects to make a Thursday announcement on the protocol for reopening restaurants to dine-in service as well as the opening of hair salons and possibly other businesses that were closed by the state because of the pandemic.

VALLEY COVID-19 DEATHS

DeWine’s budget-cut announcement came the same day as 15 newly reported COVID-19 deaths in the Mahoning Valley were disclosed.

There were 79 newly reported deaths in the state Tuesday, meaning nearly one in every five deaths were in the three-county area.

Reported Tuesday were eight new deaths in Mahoning County, four in Trumbull County and three in Columbiana County.

The 15 newly reported COVID-19 deaths rank as the second most in one day for the three counties, trailing only last Wednesday when 19 new deaths were reported.

Reported deaths lag behind actual deaths because COVID-19 deaths notifications are often delayed, sometimes by as much as a few weeks. But in a twist, the Trumbull County Combined Health District reported one COVID-19 death Tuesday while the Ohio Department of Health listed four in the county.

Overall, there were 157 COVID-19 deaths in the three counties as of Tuesday: 92 in Mahoning, 35 in Trumbull and 30 in Columbiana.

Among Ohio’s 88 counties, Mahoning has the third-most deaths, Trumbull is 10th, and Columbiana is 12th.

There were 1,135 reported COVID-19 deaths in the state Tuesday, up from 1,056 deaths Monday, according to the ODH.

That increase of 79 deaths was well above the 18 reported deaths Monday and the 39 daily average for the state during the past 21 days.

There were 20,969 confirmed cases of the virus in Ohio Tuesday, up from 20,474 Monday.

There were 999 cases and 249 hospitalizations in Mahoning County Tuesday, up from 965 and down from 250 Monday. One COVID-19 case previously counted by the state in Mahoning County turned out not to be virus-related.

Mahoning had the seventh-most cases and the sixth-most hospitalizations among counties in Ohio Tuesday.

There were 356 cases and 144 hospitalizations in Trumbull County on Tuesday, up from 347 and 142, respectively, Monday.

Trumbull County had the 11th-most cases and the seventh-most hospitalizations in the state Tuesday.

In Columbiana County, there were 292 cases and 106 hospitalizations Tuesday, up from 287 cases a day earlier with the same number of hospitalizations.

Columbiana had the 14th-most cases and eighth-most hospitalizations Tuesday among Ohio’s counties.

Statewide, 3,956 people were hospitalized as of Tuesday because of the virus, up from 3,809 Monday.

There were 1,123 people in intensive-care units Tuesday, up from 1,090 Monday.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com