May 22, 2009 - What about our schools?
Schools for Equity in Education
The education omnibus bill, HF2, was signed by the Governor without any line item vetoes. A bill summary from SEE and the actual bill text are available.
The Governor is claiming that he will NOT unallot any education funding. Nevertheless, when he is making nearly a billion dollars worth of reductions to other programs will he be able to completely avoid cutting education? We really can't be certain.
The Governor is intending to mimic an education payment schedule shift. Currently, schools receive 90% of their funding in the current year and the additional 10% the following year. The House proposed a payment shift of 73%/27% to generate $1.8 billion. It is unclear how the Governor will mimic the shift using only his executive powers. Some estimate that to generate that $1.8 billion he will actually have to shift further, perhaps as much and 64%/36%. If the shift becomes this extreme, districts will struggle to pay their bills and be forced to borrow money or use reserves to handle their cash flow problems.
With these tough economic times, flat funding for our schools was probably the best we could expect. It shows that our leaders are prioritizing education in the state. However, to claim our schools are being held "harmless" is inaccurate. For the past 17 years, the education basic formula has increased 1.5% a year while at the same time inflation has increased over 3% a year. Our schools have been living within diminishing means for a long time now and the next two years of 0% increases will only add the financial burden.
What Can You Do
The Governor is asking for public input and suggestions on the budget dilemma. The email address is budgetideas@state.mn.us.
The Governor intends announce his proposed unallotments as soon as possible so state agencies can plan. Take the time now to email the Governor as he is making the very difficult decisions on how to balance the budget and ask him to honor his pledge to NOT cut education funding. Don't forget to mention your support for the New Minnesota Miracle so we can continue to build momentum for this promising investment in our public schools.
Governor Tim Pawlenty
Telephone: (651) 296-3391
Toll Free: (800) 657-3717
http://www.schoolsforequity.org/
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