Legislature Updates

Governor to hold back $27 million for 2010 budget

UPDATE: January 20th, 2010

On January 11, 2010, Governor Butch Otter delivered his State of the State address to the newly convened legislative session. His news was not good for the students who represent the future of our state and the future of our country. In the face of lagging revenues the Governor made the first ever mid-year cut to public education in Idaho. This cut was on top of approximately a 5% holdback to education last year (the first cut to an annual education budget in memory) and a predicted holdback of approximately 8-10% for the upcoming 2010/2011 budget. These numbers leave most school districts in Idaho wondering how to pay the bills.

The Governor’s answer? Let school districts borrow against their next year’s budgets. Yes, if districts do not have the money to get through the third dramatic cut to education in less than two years they may simply borrow the money from the government and pay it back from the following year’s budget. The obvious problem with this solution is that there may not be any additional money in school districts’ coffers in one more year, and in fact there is no guarantee that the legislature will not slash budgets again in another year.

Conversations at the statehouse about how to fund this growing educational funding gap do not currently include any discussion among the Republican majority about revenue enhancement. In fact, in his recent State of the State address, Governor Otter ruled out any possibility of increasing funding to balance the budget this year.

In 2001 then Republican Governor Dirk Kempthorne successfully championed a temporary 2-year, one cent increase to the sales tax to plug holes in a weak budget created by lagging tax collections. This temporary one-cent increase generated approximately $186,000,000 per year and successfully bridged the spending shortfall. Governor Kempthorne knew that education was the best hope for a sustained recovery and through the temporary sales tax increase he insured that our educational system did not suffer during the economic downturn. It worked as it was intended and after two years it expired.

This year, instead of a consideration of this type, some legislative leaders have said, “…if our economy is hurting, education should hurt too.” This view is not only myopic but flat out wrong. If our economy is to fully recover and in fact permanently improve, it will be education that leads the way. Building a robust educational system for the 21st century learners is the one thing that we can count on to create a more stable economic state of affairs in the future.

Essential to the creation of that system is appropriate funding that not only keeps education whole, but also funds the necessary tools, technologies, and programs that will enable education and our students to be successful in the new millennia. Preparing our youth to live and compete in our global society will take creative planning, dedication, new approaches to teaching and learning, and the accompanying funding that will allow the students of Idaho to lead our nation into a true position of strength in the new global economy.