Friday News Roundup: Week of September 13-17

At Ed Money Watch, we discuss and analyze major issues affecting education funding. In our Friday News Roundup, we try to highlight interesting stories that might otherwise get overlooked. These stories emphasize how federal and state policy changes can affect local schools and districts.

Proposed Oregon Budget Would Mean Special Education Cuts

University of Missouri Braces for Ten Percent Budget Cut

California Colleges and Universities Will Receive Federal Stimulus Funds to Fill Budget Holes

Texas Projected Budget Shortfall Reaches $21 Billion

Proposed Oregon Budget Would Mean Special Education Cuts
Oregon state legislators this week announced a budget plan for the 2011 fiscal year that would plug most of the state’s $155 million education funding deficit with $118 million from the new federal stimulus aid bill and $34 million in state reserve funds. The federal funds would come from the Education Jobs Fund which was passed by Congress this summer. Even with this additional funding, the state will still be about $3 million short and will need to make service cuts. Lawmakers say the cuts will come from the state’s special education budget, reducing services for the state’s School for the Deaf and early intervention special education programs. If the cuts are approved, Oregon will fall out of compliance with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act which requires state to maintain special education funding at a certain level. The state stands to lose $23 million in federal funds in the following fiscal year. More here…

University of Missouri Braces for Ten Percent Budget Cut
University of Missouri System President Gary Forsee this week announced that the state’s university system could lose up to $500 million in state aid in fiscal year 2012, about a 10 percent drop. If proposed budget is approved, the university system will have to raise tuition to make up for the funding loss, ending the system’s three-year tuition freeze for Missouri residents. Missouri law dictates that tuition at the state’s public universities cannot increase faster than inflation in a given year unless a waiver is granted by the state Department of Education. No final decisions on the budget cut or the tuition increase will be made until the state publishes a draft budget in January of 2011. More here…

California Colleges and Universities Will Receive Federal Stimulus Funds to Fill Budget Holes
This week, California’s public colleges and universities announced that they will receive over $200 million for fiscal year 2011 in federal stimulus funds from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Officials said they will use the funds to admit more students, rehire faculty, and restore course offerings. The University of California and California State University will each receive $106 million in the final round of funding through the ARRA. The state’s community colleges will receive a total of $5 million, most of which will be used to restore support systems that help community college students stay on track to graduation. The federal stimulus funds afford some certainty for the colleges and universities as they wait for the state to pass a budget, which is currently stuck in a stalemate in the state legislature. More here…

Texas Projected Budget Shortfall Reaches $21 Billion
Texas state legislative staff this week announced a new estimate of the state’s budget shortfall, putting the shortfall at $21 billion for the coming two-year budget cycle. Citing lower-than-expected tax collections and unexpected growth in public school enrollment and Medicaid caseloads, staff raised the estimate from their previous projection of $18 billion. Democratic lawmakers in the state argue that Republican Governor Rick Perry failed to plan for falling revenues. However, a spokesperson for Governor Perry contended that the $21 billion estimate is not official and legislators won’t know the official amount until it is released by the state comptroller. More here…