Friday News Roundup: Week of July 11-15

Idaho ends fiscal 2011 with $85 million surplus

It’s official: Ohio schools lose $780 million

New York Governor Cuomo wields first veto on school bonding for pensions

University of California tuition hits $12,192 – a 9.6 percent increase

Idaho ends fiscal 2011 with $85 million surplus
Fiscal year 2011 revenues in Idaho topped the state’s expectations by about $85 million. For the 2012 fiscal year, which began July 1^st, much of that extra money -- about $68 million -- will be allocated to public K-12 schools and community colleges to help fill schools’ budget gaps and to maintain existing funding levels as required by some federal funding programs. In addition to a large funding award from the federal government last year to protect teachers’ jobs (The Education Jobs Fund of 2010), Idaho has nearly restored public school funding for 2012 to pre-2010 levels, when public schools took a $128 million cut. More here…

It’s official: Ohio schools lose $780 million
Ohio schools will be subject to major funding cuts over the next two years after GOP Governor John Kasich and Republican legislators agreed on a two-year state budget covering fiscal years 2012 and 2013. As stimulus dollars dry up, Ohio districts will see major drops in funding – in some districts, over ten percent cuts over what they received last year. State funding in the budget is actually higher than it was in the last two-year budget, but the loss of stimulus funds means that only 17 of over 600 districts in the state will have a higher operating budget in 2013 than they did in 2011. Districts may be able to make up some of the cuts with about $290 million in leftover funds from the federal Education Jobs Fund of 2010 and, for about half of districts, performance bonuses for high-achieving schools. More here…

New York Governor Cuomo wields first veto on school bonding for pensions
A legislative proposal in New York that would help school districts finance teacher pensions with newly issued 15-year bonds passed during the last day of the legislature’s session this week. Critics of the bill said that over the long term, the measure would have doubled cost of the pensions to taxpayers because of the interest due on the bonds. Governor Andrew Cuomo, citing the bill as an example of “fiscal irresponsibility,” vetoed the legislation. The measure was supported by the New York State United Teachers union and was sponsored by a bipartisan pair of lawmakers. The bill was passed by the legislature on the same day that lawmakers approved Governor Cuomo’s proposed cap on the amount local governments can raise property taxes each year, a major item on his agenda. More here…

University of California tuition hits $12,192 – a 9.6 percent increase
Students at the University of California will see in-state undergraduate tuition increase next year by more than 18 percent over last year’s level of $10,302. This year’s tuition increase to $13,218 ($12,192 tuition plus a mandatory campus fee averaging $1,026) totals more than twice the 2005 tuition. Regents defended the 14-4 vote by pointing to Governor Jerry Brown’s budget, which cut the state’s allocation of funds to University of California campuses by $650 million, as the root cause of the tuition hike. Other measures to help fill the UC system’s $1 billion shortfall include operational cuts on campuses, higher donations, and higher numbers of out-of-state students, who pay three times the in-state tuition. This fall will be the first time the University of California system is funded with a greater amount by tuition revenue (12 percent of total school revenue) than by the schools’ funding from state tax dollars (11 percent of the school’s funding). More here…