SEATTLE (AP) — State budget cuts are ending the salmon in the classroom program.
Each year, 40,000 school children in the state have been introduced to the life of the salmon through the Salmon in the Classroom program. But beginning in January, the program is ending.
The program has been in place 20 years, and it averages 495 schools a year.
Eliminating the program will save $110,000 the rest of the school year and $442,000 for the next biennium.
All of the money for the program came from the federal government, but the federal funds will be used for other fish and wildlife projects, such as fish-catch assessment and keeping track of salmon in the wild.
The elimination of the program is part of a $6.2 million cut in the Fish and Wildlife budget.
