IT'S LIKE OLD TIMES WITH LATE STATE BUDGET

Governor Andrew Cuomo likes to boast about how he gets the state budget done by the April 1 deadline but not this year. We're in overtime on the budget and the Governor is now proposing an extender budget to last through May.

What are the sticking points? This is from the Daily News:

Raising the age of criminal responsibility (from 16 to 18) has proven to be by far the most stubborn policy issue in the budget.

A plan floated by Cuomo would allow youths charged with misdemeanors and other non-violent offenses to be diverted to Family Court, while those charged with violent and other serious crimes would be handled by a special youth court created within the criminal court system.

That plan, however, has met stiff resistance from Democrats in the Assembly and Senate, who want more of the offenses to be handled by Family Court —a stance that the GOP-controlled Senate and many district attorneys oppose.

Other issues that needed to be resolved Sunday included funding for education and charter schools, and an effort to revive an expired tax credit for developers who build affordable housing.

I can't wait to see if there are comments on raising the age of criminal responsibility. Have fun guys.

As for charter schools, this is a real problem for us if the cap on the number of charter schools is lifted for what are essentially private schools as they don't educate everyone like public schools do. Public schools don't have "Got to Go" lists like some charter schools do. Private schools should not be funded by the state.