Friday News Roundup: Week of February 27-March 2

$323M surplus forecast for Minnesota state budget, but…

Missouri House budget funds higher ed, cuts aid for the blind

Ohio school districts await funding formula

Idaho lawmakers boost state support for higher education

$323M surplus forecast for Minnesota state budget, but…
An economic forecast released this week for Minnesota predicts a $323 million surplus in tax revenue for the current 2012 fiscal year, among other signs of positive growth. The legislature will use the funds to both completely replenish state reserves used to complete the 2011-2012 biennial budget process and to provide $318 million of the $2.4 billion in overdue payments owed to public K-12 schools. Because the state filled a deficit last year by deferring payments to school districts, it is required by law to dedicate some of the surplus to schools. It is unclear where they rest of the deferred payments will come from. Legislators also used some one-time funding sources to pay for state programs in the current biennial budget, meaning those same funding sources will not be available moving forward.  As a result, they will face some difficult decisions as they enter discussions over the next biennial budget. More here…

Missouri House budget funds higher ed, cuts aid for the blind
A new fiscal year 2013 budget proposal in the Missouri House runs counter to Governor Jay Nixon’s proposed cuts to the state’s higher education system next year. Nixon’s proposal would cut funding for public colleges and universities by 12.5 percent below fiscal year 2012 levels, and later partially fill that hole with $40 million the state expects to earn from a settlement in a national mortgage lawsuit. House Budget Committee Chairman Ryan Silvey (R-Kansas City), though, would provide level funding for the state’s postsecondary institutions and make smaller programmatic cuts to K-12 education than Nixon had proposed. At the same time, his plan does not include a $5 million increase to basic aid to K-12 education that Nixon requested. In part, Silvey’s proposed state higher education budget would be funded by zeroing out a $28 million program that provides state aid to the blind. More here…

Ohio school districts await funding formula
Two decades ago, the Ohio Supreme Court declared the state’s per-pupil school funding formula unconstitutional because it relied too heavily on property taxes and exacerbated income disparities. Since then, repeated attempts to replace the funding formula have failed. Governor John Kasich last year threw out the model his predecessor, former Governor Ted Strickland, designed in 2009, but Kasich has not yet proposed an alternative. Strickland’s plan utilized an evidence-based model that relied heavily on research on effective teaching and school reform efforts, but also required $5 billion more annually than the state had been spending. Today, school districts receive essentially fiscal year 2009 funding levels, with some minor adjustments to the formula. Kasich will likely recommend a new formula as part of his biennial budget for fiscal years 2014 and 2015, to be introduced during fiscal year 2013. He may retain aspects of Strickland’s evidence-based model in his proposal. More here…

Idaho lawmakers boost state support for higher education
The Idaho Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this week approved a state higher education budget for fiscal year 2013 of $446.3 million, an increase from fiscal year 2012 when higher education in the state received $396.7 million. This includes an additional $18.1 million for public four-year universities and $4.7 million for the state’s three community colleges, $1.4 million of which is designated for construction and maintenance costs. The budget would also provide $2.4 million in funds for construction for the public universities. The House and Senate both need to approve the measure before it can take effect. More here…