BATON ROUGE- Gov. John Bel Edwards was confronted by school leaders Thursday during his weekly press conference about how his proposed budget cuts will affect school voucher programs.

The fight was brought to a head when private and charter schools claimed that the Governor was a liar in a recent TV ad.

The conflict is over a proposed 15 percent cut to school vouchers. The program gives over 2,000 Baton Rouge students an option other than public education.

The Governor told school leaders that the state’s budget crisis required him to make cuts across the board, but the ad uped the anty.

“All the conversation is about special interests and charter schools and its never about the kids and these kids are suffering,” private school leader, Tom Watson said.

Gov. Edwards responded by saying that he previously stated that he would “zero out” vouchers.