Idaho's Budget Crisis

["John Cronin" <jaycron@turbonet.com>]

I understand the importance of Idaho's budget crisis and the devastating
impact it will have on public schools and higher education in our state. My
daughter attends the U of I and another attends Moscow High School. The
announced increased tuition costs at the U of I and the Moscow School
District budget crisis will directly impact my family as well as many
others. I am hopeful that  our local legislators will demonstrate
leadership and creativity in developing alternative solutions to across
the board cuts in services. This should include an honest discussion of the
 impact of continuing last year's tax cuts. It's just not good enough
to say that there is no legislative will to consider all the alternatives.
Someone needs to step up. 

Tip O'Neil, former Speaker of the House during the Reagan years, once said
all politics are  local. The impact of the budget crisis upon our community
will underline the truth behind O'Neil's often quoted observation. On the
other hand, when someone suggests that school cuts not be as deep, then
what they are really suggesting, is that other state agencies shoulder a
bigger share in meeting the state's budget crisis.

There are other equally important constituencies in our own community and
around the state, namely young children and families who happen to be
struggling for one reason or the other. Families who are working minimum
wage jobs without health care, people impacted by mental illness and
disabilities and families who need support and education to be
better parents. These are the silent and invisible folks who live in our
community that clean our offices, flip burgers and as the saying goes, "
play by the rules."  If  the economy continues to sputter, we will see more
working families accessing human services. These folks don't have a 
spokesperson or lobbyist so seldom are they be mentioned in the press or by
our leadership. 

As we move to address the budget crisis in the next legislative session, I
hope we don't forget our responsibilities to people who make a contribution
to the fabric of the community. Most of these folks are taking personal
responsibility for themselves and their families but we should ensure 
that basic needs are met in order for all of us can take advantage of the
educational opportunities in Idaho.

John 
 


----------
> From: Sue Hovey <suehovey@moscow.com>
> To: Kenton Bird <kbird@uidaho.edu>; vision2020@moscow.com
> Subject: Re: Idaho's budget crisis
> Date: Wednesday, December 05, 2001 11:49 PM
> 
> Ken Robison knows the ins and outs of the state budget system as well as
> anyone in the Legislature.  Let us hope the members are willing to listen
> and act on his suggestions.
> 
> Sue
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kenton Bird" <kbird@uidaho.edu>
> To: <vision2020@moscow.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2001 5:44 PM
> Subject: Idaho's budget crisis
> 
> 
> > 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
> >