budget cuts
What might $2.6 billion in cuts look like?
Posted on 04. Dec, 2009 by Heather.
The Legislature met for Assembly Days this week, holding work sessions to receive updates and discuss likely issues for the 2010 legislative session. Not surprisingly, the impending $2.6 billion deficit is on everyone’s mind. The Senate and House Ways and Means committees met yesterday and heard updates from staff. Bryon Moore, operating budget coordinator, presented to the Senate committee and did a good job of showing how we got here and what in FY2010 can be reduced (see his presentation here). As one might guess, things do not look good.
First, what in the 2009-11 budget ($31.4 billion) can be reduced? According to Mr. Moore, about $7.7 billion worth of program (slide 9).
Second, what’s in that $7.7 billion? (slide 10)
Third, what’s one Doom’s Day scenario of what $2.6 billion in cuts looks like? (slide 11)
This is just a scenario for illustrative purposes and does not necessarily represent what will be on the chopping block. But the state can’t axe the Department of Corrections either. Have no doubt, these cuts are going to hurt.
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Economic update: state budget down another $760 million
Posted on 19. Nov, 2009 by Heather.
The Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council released updated revenue forecasts for the 2009-11 biennium. The news is not good. Revuenes are down an additional $760 million from September’s forecast. What does that mean? In short, the state is facing a $2.55 billion deficit. The 2009-11 budget passed in April included $31.39 billion worth of expenditures. The revenue forecast today put collections for 2009-11 at $28.84 billion. So, $31.39 billion minus $28.84 billion is $2.55 billion. And that $2.55 billion needs to be trimmed during the 2010 legislative session. Yikes!
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“Our teachers, our voice”
Posted on 15. May, 2009 by admin.
Um, wow.
Bonnie and I just got back from a student rally at Franklin High School, and it was awesome and inspiring and empowering.
Clayton, a Franklin senior, speaks to the crowd
More than 100 students gathered to protest teacher layoffs during their lunch period. Organized by passionate seniors Sunny Nguyen and Clayton Ruthruff, the students chanted “our teachers, our voice” in support of teachers who recently received layoff notices. Students are frustrated with the layoff policies weighing years in the classroom over demonstrated performance.
Clayton, who came running at the bell with megaphone in hand, opened the rally with, “We want quality teachers, not teachers who have been here longer.” He encouraged students the channel their anger into positive change. Sunny followed, encouraging attendance at the next Seattle School Board meeting. They then pulled Bonnie up, who offered additional words of encouragement.
Sunny asks other students to sign petition cards.
The rally ended with students filling out petition cards against the “last hired, first fired” layoff policy and voting for the top school issue. Students overwhelmingly identified “termination of our teachers” as the most pressing issue facing Franklin.
We weren’t the only over-18s in the crowd. A small group of parents and educators joined the students in supporting quality teachers.
No matter how many events like this I attend, I am always inspired — especially when students are acting as their own advocates. So often we speak on behalf of students. It’s nice to hear things straight from the horse’s mouth, as it were.
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House Supplemental Budget
Posted on 27. Jan, 2009 by admin.
I just came across an interesting analysis on Schmudget on the House supplemental (PSHB 1694) from the Budget and Policy Center. It led me to take a second look at the House supplemental - so I thought I’d pass it on…
The House Ways and Means Committee will hear the House Democrats’ supplemental budget proposal (PSHB 1694) this afternoon.
Three important things to note:
- The House proposal does not assume any maintenance level changes, making comparisons with the Governor’s proposal potentially misleading.
- The House proposal reduces the current budget by $172 million more than the Governor’s supplemental budget.
- Both budgets assume the same level of federal stimulus money (assumptions that may be too low given recent developments in D.C.); the House proposal assumes less total federal contribution.
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Dear policy makers: don’t forget human capital.
Posted on 04. Dec, 2008 by admin.
Of Financial Capital and Human Capital: Why We’re Bailing Out Wall Street While Allowing Our Schools to Get Clobbered
By Robert Reich - December 3, 2008, 3:14PM
Our preoccupation with the immediate crisis of financial capital is causing us to overlook the bigger crisis in America’s human capital. While we commit hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to Wall Street, we’re slashing our outlays for public education.
Education is largely funded by state and local governments whose revenues are plummeting. As consumers cut back, state sales and income taxes are shrinking; three quarters of the states are already facing budget crises. State revenues account for about half of public school budgets and most funding of public colleges and universities. In addition, as home values drop, local property taxes take a hit. Local property taxes account for 40 percent of local school budgets, on average.
The result, across the nation: Teachers are being laid off and new hiring frozen, after-school programs cut, so called “noncritical” subjects like history eliminated, schools closed, and tuitions hiked at state colleges and universities.
It’s absurd. We’re bailing out every major bank to get financial capital flowing again. But we’re squeezing the main sources of our nation’s human capital. Yet America’s future competitiveness and the standard of living of our people depend largely our peoples’ skills, and our capacities to communicate and solve problems and innovate ¬ not on our ability to borrow money.
What’s more, our human capital is rooted here while financial capital moves around the globe at the speed of an electronic blip. Right now global capital markets are frozen, but the big money — mostly in Asia and the Middle East — is coming here, bailout or no bailout. At this point it’s coming here in the form of purchases of dollars and of T-bills that are financing the Wall Street bailout. Eventually American assets will become so cheap that the money will come here to buy up the bargains.
It’s our human capital that’s in short supply. And without adequate public funding, the supply will shrink further. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying funding is everything when it comes to education. Obviously, accountability is critical. But without adequate funding we can’t attract talented people into teaching, or keep class sizes small enough to give kids a real chance to learn, or provide them with a well-rounded curriculum, and ensure that every qualified young person can go to college.
So why are we bailing out Wall Street and not our nation’s public schools and colleges? Partly because the crisis in financial capital is immediate while our human capital crisis is unfolding gradually. Headlines scream what’s happening to our money but not to our kids.
Maybe it’s also because we don’t have a central banker for America’s human capital ¬ someone who warns us as loudly as Ben Bernanke did a few months ago when he was talking about Wall Street’s meltdown, of the dire consequences that will follow if we don¹t come up with the dough.
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Penny-wise and pound-foolish in early learning?
Posted on 03. Dec, 2008 by admin.
We’re potentially having a pound foolish moment in Washington and need your help keeping our Governor on track with quality early learning for children. Washington has made significant progress in the past few years in early learning. Now is NOT the time to move backwards.
Tell the Governor today! Keep Washington’s early learning programs off the chopping block.
Take a moment now to forward this to all your friends and family now so they can contact the Governor too. The more people that the Governor hears from, the more likely she is to keep early learning programs off the chopping block. Every single voice matters. Truly.
Why are we worried about this right now? You may have seen it in the news: Washington State is facing a huge budget shortfall in the next two years. To prepare for this shortfall, the Governor just received a report from the Office of Financial Management, which rates the relative importance of the different things in the budget to help her (and the legislature) decide what to cut.
But there’s a big problem: The report is penny-wise and pound-foolish. Its recommendations could result in Early Learning Programs like child care subsidies for low income families, pre-school, home visiting and parent support being severely under-funded or completely cut out of the WA budget.
Governor Gregoire is writing her proposed budget right now, so hearing from you today is deeply important.
Hey, if times are tight, why not cut Early Learning Programs? Top 3 reasons:
· Cutting funds now will cause thousands of parents to lose their child care
· Cutting funds now is penny-wise and pound-foolish — it will cost more money in the long run if we cut funding now.
· Early Learning Programs pay off. For every $1 invested in early learning programs, we get a conservatively estimated $7 back when these children become adults. If, 20 years ago, we had invested in early learning, think about the money we would have now! If we don’t invest now, we may never reap these kinds of benefits for Washington State.
Continuing to prioritize early learning is one of the smartest investments we can make in Washington’s future. In these difficult economic times, supporting families by insuring access to high quality early learning is even more critical!
