BATON ROUGE- The Louisiana House is proposing to take a hatchet to the Department of Education in the final four months of the budget year.
    
House lawmakers recommended cuts that Superintendent of Education John White says would shutter nearly every program in his agency, including early childhood programs, vouchers and standardized testing.
    
Republicans in the House have said they want to make deeper cuts than what is proposed by Gov. John Bel Edwards to close a massive budget hole before June 30.
    
They approved a $106 million package of cuts that is $76 million larger than the Democratic governor sought. Nearly half the cuts would fall on the education department.
    
White told the Senate Finance Committee on Sunday the cut would strip 85 percent of the state financing remaining in his department.