Blogging the budget – Teacher jobs saved, for now; cuts elsewhere
Following my previous post on transportation, we’ll start with a quiz on the difference between the Highway Trust Fund and the Highway Fund. Just kidding. I think I’ve already forgotten that. Instead, let’s get on to the bulk of the budget.
Education takes up more than half state spending and is consistently said to be the number one priority for voters and legislators. This year, the General Assembly managed to protect thousands of teaching positions using federal stimulus money and revenue from the lottery. In fact, the state does not have any teaching positions to "save" using $300 million in recently-approved federal money for that purpose.
But money had to be cut from somewhere in the education budget:
• No raises for teachers
• $3.2 million cut for instructional supplies
• $9.2 million cut eliminates ALL mentoring programs
• $10 million cut (2.4 percent) from school transportation funding
• $2.5 million cut (21.4 percent) eliminates some child and family support teams
• $11.9 million cut eliminates ALL funding for school bus replacement, except for $1 million in emergency funds
• $2 million cut reduces DPI operating budget by 15 percent
Teachers, students and parents might not feel the total impact of these cuts right away, but just like delayed road maintenance, the bumps are felt several years in the future. The mammoth problem faced by legislators is that they cannot simply restore these cuts and make up the difference next year – the budget picture is just getting worse.
Some legislators might want to take the $300 million from the federal government and simply sit on it for next year’s budget. But the authorized uses for the funding are broad, so the money might be used to prevent further cuts in this fiscal year. There are plenty of needs both this year and next, and the Governor and legislative leaders have tough choices to make.
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