Idaho's budget crisis

[Kenton Bird <kbird@uidaho.edu>]

Visionaries,
Several people have asked me whether I saw Ken Robison's recent
commentary in the Spokesman-Review about ways to mitigate the severe
cuts necessitated by Idaho's revenue shortfall.   I was able to retrieve
it from the newspaper's website, www.spokesman-review.com and would like
to share it with the list.

I think Ken has some constructive suggestions about steps the
Legislature can and should take in January.  I would welcome some
response to these ideas from our three District 5 legislators, Sen. Gary
Schroeder and Reps. Tom Trail and Gary Young.
--Kenton
***
                                                       Wednesday,
November 28, 2001


                    COMMENTARY
                    Protect education, not reserves
                    Guest column
                    Ken Robison - Special to The Spokesman-Review

                    Idaho's education system will suffer serious damage
if the
                    Legislature follows the budget plan endorsed by Gov.
Dirk
                    Kempthorne and legislative leaders. That plan
represents
                    abandonment of the Legislature's obligation to
support a
                    strong system of public schools and higher
education.

                    The governor is acting prudently in ordering
holdbacks for
                    most state agencies for the current fiscal year. But
the
                    holdbacks are not fairly distributed and cut too
deeply into
                    public school and higher education budgets.

                    Far worse than the plan for the current fiscal year
is the
                    plan outlined by the governor for next fiscal year.
That
                    plan would mean further cuts in public school,
higher
                    education and professional-technical school budgets.
For
                    higher education it would mean layoffs and excessive

                    increases in student fees. For many public schools
it would
                    mean larger classes.

                    The governor and the Republican leaders have the
wrong
                    priorities. Rather than protecting the education
system in a
                    time of economic slowdown, they want to protect
reserve
                    fund balances and projects that are less important
than
                    schools and universities.

                    Their plan is to make deeper cuts in education
budgets for
                    fiscal 2003 while:

                    •Leaving $72 million in the state's budget reserve
fund.
                    This fund was created specifically to help support
                    education and other services in the event of a
revenue
                    shortfall, revenue collections that fall below
expectations.

                    The theory is that the reserve fund shouldn't be
used
                    because that would mean using "one-time" money to
                    support added spending on ongoing operations. That
                    argument would have more validity if you were using
                    reserve fund money for budget increases. Basically
the
                    fund would be used to offset budget reductions.

                    It is reasonable to use the reserve fund to help
build a
                    bridge to a time of economic recovery.

                    •Leaving on schedule the plan to spend $64 million
to
                    restore the Capitol building, including $32 million
                    appropriated in the last session.

                    It would be better to stretch the capitol
restoration over
                    more years, recognizing it is less important than
the
                    education system.

                    •Avoiding the use of any of the $40 million received
by the
                    state so far in the tobacco lawsuit settlement.

                    The state receives an added $20 million to $30
million a
                    year from the tobacco companies "in perpetuity," so
any
                    money taken from the fund for the fiscal 2003 budget

                    would be replaced in a year or two.

                    •Retaining all of the $100 million in ongoing tax
cuts
                    approved by the last Legislature.

                    The governor could show leadership and courage by
                    proposing to suspend part of the tax cuts for one or
two
                    years to support education.

                    Most Idahoans would be willing to give up $30 to $40
per
                    household in tax cuts to protect the education
system.

                    If they had known last March what they know today,
most
                    would not have supported tax cuts at the expense of
                    schools and universities. But Idahoans were told
that the
                    state had a huge surplus and could afford both tax
cuts and
                    efforts to strengthen the education system.

                    Leaders of industry and others have been advising
the state
                    to strengthen the public schools, to improve
reading, to
                    give students more skills, to raise standards. They
have
                    advised expanding universities and
professional-technical
                    programs to provide more educated graduates. Strong
rural
                    schools are a key to rural development.

                    Many Idaho teachers will be retiring in the next few
years,
                    and Idaho is at the bottom among western states in
pay for
                    starting teachers.

                    What the governor and the GOP leaders propose is
                    abandonment of efforts to strengthen education and
                    expand opportunity for high school graduates. It
would be
                    total retreat from the Legislature's obligation to
support a
                    strong system of public schools, universities and
                    professional schools.

                    State Rep. Ken Robison, D-Boise, is a member of the
                    Legislature's Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee