Friday News Roundup: Week of January 25-29

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.

Missouri Lawmakers Disagree on Education Budget

Arizona Educators Fear Deep Cuts to Education Budget

Mississippi Governor Announces Across-the-Board Cuts

Kansas Legislators Trying to Avoid Cuts to Higher Education Budget

Missouri Lawmakers Disagree on Education Budget
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon recently released his fiscal year 2011 budget proposal, in which he will increase spending for the state’s basic education funding formula by $18 million to $3.02 billion. He also plans to preserve the popular Career Ladder program, which gives teachers supplementary pay for tutoring and other after-school activities. The program is especially popular in rural school districts, where leaders feel they are able to attract better teachers who otherwise would have chosen to work in wealthier urban or suburban communities. However, some lawmakers and urban school district leaders feel the $37.5 million program should be cut or eliminated. Republican lawmakers point to a plan they set forth five years ago to increase the basic funding formula by about $1 billion per year. They say schools need the basic formula funding for classrooms and day-to-day operations. Urban school district leaders agree. They say that if the Career Ladder program is preventing them from getting basic formula funds, it should be eliminated until the state can afford both. More here…

Arizona Educators Fear Deep Cuts to Education Budget
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has proposed deep cuts to the state’s education budget, including eliminating state support for all-day kindergarten. Education advocates worry that additional cuts to the education budget could mean giving up the state’s right to keep its federal stimulus money. Governor Brewer’s fiscal year 2011 budget calls for cutting $180 million from the education budget for books, technology, and other teaching tools on top of axing state funding for all-day kindergarten. After cuts to the current fiscal year 2010 budget, Arizona is funding education at 2006 levels. Education officials worry that if next year’s budget makes additional cuts to state support for education, it will violate the “maintenance of effort” requirement in the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The U.S. Department of Education has given no clear guidance on when this requirement expires. The state’s teachers union and some Democrats have called for suspending a school tax-credit program that allows school supporters to take a dollar-for-dollar tax deduction on donations made to schools instead of making cuts to the education budget. More here…

Mississippi Governor Announces Across-the-Board Cuts
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour this week announced budget cuts of 8.2 percent for all state departments and agencies in fiscal year 2010. Governor Barbour announced the across-the-board cut after the state House failed to pass legislation already approved in the state Senate that would give him discretion to cut up to 10 percent from the budget from certain agencies. State law allows the governor to make cuts of up to 5 percent to agency budgets without legislative approval. Under the plan Governor Barbour wanted to follow if the legislation had passed, the state’s K-12 education budget would have seen an 8.7 percent cut, or 0.5 percent more than it faces under the current plan. Governor Barbour is encouraging school districts to dip into reserve funds and interest from timber sales to make up budget holes. But they have already been dipping into this pot for six months, so funds may dry up soon. More here…

Kansas Legislators Trying to Avoid Cuts to Higher Education Budget
Kansas lawmakers are looking for ways to bridge a $400,000 hole in the fiscal year 2010 higher education budget. The current budget of $747 million is equal to fiscal year 2006 funding levels for the state’s higher education institutions. Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson has recommended raising taxes to generate and additional $380 million in revenue, some of which would be used to patch the hole in the higher education budget. In fiscal year 2011, Governor Parkinson wants to raise the higher education budget by $10 million to $757 million. He says higher education is an investment in the future, and has vowed to keep funding at adequate levels. More here…

Briefly Noted

• Florida Governor Crist would increase education budget with revenue from new Seminole gambling deal.
• New Mexico lawmakers struggle with choice between tax cuts and program cuts.