Friday News Roundup: Week of January 23-27

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley warns of ‘tough’ state budget
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley plans to release two fiscal year 2013 budget proposals – one for education funding and another to lay out the state’s general operating budget – early next month.  However, Governor Bentley says, the plan will not reallocate any money from the Education Trust Fund to the general fund as he had originally proposed last month; a statutory change to combine the budgets would allow funds currently earmarked for education to be used for other budget items. New caps on spending from the Education Trust Fund will result in slight cuts in education spending for public K-12 schools and colleges. Education spending totaled about $5.6 billion in fiscal year 2012, and in 2013 that total is expected to drop by about $130 million. Governor Bentley has also pledged to veto any tax increases the state legislature may pass, including a proposed increase to the state cigarette tax. More here…

UMaine System freezes tuition; board urged to fix aging campus buildings
This week the University of Maine System’s board of trustees decided to freeze student tuition for the 2013 academic year at 2012 levels. Although the board has approved the tuition freeze, the decision is conditional on the school’s ability to design a budget for each campus that will not require excessive cuts. As a result, further approval is required before the proposal takes effect. According to the board, tuition has not held constant from year to year in 25 years. The decision to hold tuition at 2012 levels came in spite of a report that many of the campuses will require substantial infrastructure investments over the coming years. According to an examination of the campuses, 69 percent of the system’s square footage includes buildings that are at least 25 years old and are therefore more likely to need major renovations within the next five years. More here…

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s budget would boost aid to local schools, cut positions – and raise some taxes
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick this week released his fiscal year 2013 budget proposal. The plan includes $32.3 billion in spending, with over $4 billion of that directed to public K-12 schools – an all-time high for public education in the state. The education plan also funnels an additional $10 million to efforts to close the state’s achievement gap, and adds $10 million over fiscal year 2012 levels to the state’s community college system. To support 3 percent spending increases in the overall budget, Governor Patrick calls for raising additional tax revenue through taxes on candy, soda, cigarettes, and other items. Additionally, revenue is expected to exceed last year’s totals by about $940 million as a result of broader economic growth. The two houses of the legislature will produce their own versions of the budget and are expected to pass a bill to be signed by the governor before the new fiscal year begins on July 1. More here…

Idaho schools chief has plan to offset teacher pay cuts
As part of his education reforms project, “Students Come First,” Idaho Public Schools Chief Tom Luna originally planned to divert money in fiscal year 2013 from teacher salaries to classroom technology projects and performance-based bonuses for teachers. But this week Luna proposed that the state instead offset the $19 billion in diverted teacher pay and benefits with a portion of the $29 million in state revenue that Governor Butch Otter was planning to stash in a rainy day account for education. The state already cut $14.7 million in teacher pay in fiscal year 2012 to fund the reform initiatives, so Luna is trying to preserve teacher salaries for next year. In his budget recommendation, he says that salaries should take priority over the pay-for-performance provisions in his education reform plan. In total, Luna’s budget proposal includes $1.27 billion for public K-12 education for fiscal year 2013, a $57 million increase over fiscal year 2012 levels. More here…