“How much pain do we have to dish out in this state to one another before we finally realize that we have to get along and we have to compromise with one another?” he said.

Schultz called the upcoming budget, which will be crafted by a GOP majority under pressure to provide tax cuts while dealing with a $2.2 billion deficit, “a budget for the ages, without a doubt.”

On cuts to K-12 funding, Schultz had this to say:

“The K-12 system in the last few years has laid off 3,000 personnel, and it looks to me like that’s going to accelerate. Out my way, I would not be shocked if a huge percentage of school districts wind up going to referendum to have the privilege of raising their own property tax because the state has walked away from its principal responsibility of providing for a free, appropriate and near equal education for everybody.”

On the potential $1 billion cost of expanding school vouchers: