Why aren’t our legislators willing to pay the piper?
Missouri NEA Legislative Update Week 3, No. 2, January 17, 2012
By Otto Fajen, MNEA Legislative Director
STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESS
Governor Jay Nixon delivered the State of the State Address to a joint session of the House and Senate in the House Chamber on January 17. The State of the State address gives the Governor a chance to present his vision for the state and his budget priorities. In his address, Nixon emphasized the importance of creating jobs in the state. The Governor also called on the legislature to address several priority issues in education, including the school funding formula, passage of charter school accountability legislation for both charter schools and sponsors, and policies to encourage teachers to teach in public schools with the greatest need, like urban and rural areas.
BUDGET
Governor Nixon also presented an overview of his budget proposal for FY 2013. Missouri’s state budget for FY 2013 includes many reductions. The state K-12 and higher budget for the current year is supported by about $106 million of one-time federal stabilization aid, while none is available for FY 13. State revenues have improved very slightly, but the growth is far short of what the state needs to fully maintain this year’s expenditures.
The Governor is requesting essentially level formula funding for K-12 schools in this difficult budget year, including a $5 million increase in formula funding to $3,009 million. Unfortunately, this nearly flat funding will leave the formula at least $300 million underfunded next year. The state is no longer meeting the funding requirements of its own school funding law, and in the 2012-13 school year and beyond, the sole impact of the cuts could fall on the most vulnerable, the so-called “formula” districts.
In summary, FY13 K-12 budget request also:
1) Maintains early childhood special education at $144.7 million;
2) Maintains school transportation funding at $99.8 million; and
3) Maintains Parents as Teachers funding at $14 million.
The higher education budget request maintains roughly flat funding for higher education scholarship programs, such as Access Missouri and Bright Flight, but reduces funding for institutions by a total of about $118 million from the 2012 appropriation or about 12.5% below the Department of Higher Education’s request for FY13, which was already $12 million below the current year funding.
While maintaining roughly level formula funding represents a significant effort for students and public schools under the circumstances, the state faces this budget predicament because the legislature created a structural deficit in state revenues by enacting several large, permanent tax cuts over the last fifteen years. These tax cuts include repealing the general state sales tax on food and repealing the state income tax on most pension income. The legislature also enacted many new tax credits during that period, and those tax credits now drain more than $500 million per year from state revenues. The state lacks adequate funds to invest in the programs Missourians need now. The Association urges the Governor and General Assembly to address the structural budget deficit, improve the adequacy of the state tax code and ensure adequate funding for public education and other vital public services.
Text of the speech may be found at:
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