WBRZ - Baton Rouge

BATON ROUGE - Gov. Bobby Jindal is proposing a $25.5 billion budget that closes a nearly $900 million gap with higher retirement costs for state employees, nearly 6,400 job cuts and a patchwork of one-time money.

The presentation of the governor's 2012-13 spending plan Thursday by Jindal's commissioner of administration, Paul Rainwater, has kicked off annual budget negotiations with lawmakers.

The state's budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 would shrink slightly by $61 million. Twenty-nine percent would be spent on education and 38 percent for health care and social services.

Jindal proposes selling a state prison in Avoyelles Parish, hiring a private company to run a state employee health care plan, closing two ferries in south Louisiana and privatizing two facilities that care for the developmentally disabled.