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2/28/2007 Immediately following the February 28 release of the state budget forecast the House and Senate leadership set the "targets" for each spending division. There are two kinds of targets: spending and levy. Both are important for public schools. There's a narrow window of time, between the release of the February forecast and when division targets are set, when it's critical to let Leadership know where your budget priorities. Time Note: The House Ways and Means committee is scheduled to hear testimony from members of the House of Representatives on Friday, March 9 on their ideas and recommendations regarding the budget/targets. Contact your representative regarding your priorities! Resources from Parents United
Information from the Minnesota Budget Project The state’s February Forecast was released last week. It showed little change since the November Forecast regarding the FY 2008-09 biennium. The forecast shows a $2.2 billion surplus for FY 2008-09, which consists of $1.0 billion of one-time surplus carried forward from the FY 2006-07 biennium and a $1.2 billion surplus estimated for FY 2008-09. However, that $1.2 billion is roughly the amount needed to cover the costs of inflationary pressures during the FY 2008-09 biennium. A more significant change is seen in the forecast for the FY 2010-2011 biennium, in which available resources declined by $418 million. The forecast shows a $2.8 billion surplus in FY 2010-2011. However, the estimated cost of inflation compounded over four years is $2.5 to $3.0 billion in FY 2010-2011, depending on which measure of inflation is used. Stay tuned for future analysis from the Minnesota Budget Project – but if you’d like to go right to the source, the state’s February Forecast documents, including an executive summary and powerpoint presentation, are available at the Minnesota Department of Finance. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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