The Situation
Although the 2010 legislative session doesn’t officially begin for four weeks yet, committees are meeting now to begin addressing the budget problems facing Minnesota. Following is a recap of the situation.
K-12 education was “held-harmless” during the 2009 legislative session. Education was budgeted to receive flat funding for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years.
After the end of the 2009 session, Governor Pawlenty unilaterally made a total of $2.7 billion in unallotments after budget negotiations broke down between the governor’s office and the legislature. $1.7 billion was cut from education though it is currently considered a shift in education payments. (Unallotment is an executive power to reduce funding to any government entity to balance the budget in emergencies)
However due to the economy performing even worse than forecasted, Minnesota now has an additional $1.2 billion deficit for 2010 that must be resolved. If this amount is cut proportionally across all governmental entities, K-12 education would receive a staggering cut of $500 per pupil unit for the 2010-11 school year.
Additionally, a small portion of Governor Pawlenty’s July 2009 unallotments was challenged in court and the judge ruled that the unallotment authority was misused.
Futhermore, the projected 2011-2012 biennium budget deficit is worse, anticipated to be $5.4 billion.
This all adds up to extremly difficult legislative session. What does this mean for K-12 education? Cuts? Generally speaking, education is regarded as the economic engine that will drive Minnesota’s future prosperity by providing a highly educated workforce. Therefore, it is unlikely that funding will be cut by $500 per pupil but lesser amounts will be discussed and possibly implemented.
The magnitude of the budget shortfall is hard to comprehend. Cuts alone cannot fix the long term problem and neither will tax increases. Will our state leaders to put aside political aspirations and work together for the best interest of all Minnesotans. K-12 education funding, which is approximately 40% of the general fund, may not be held harmless. Yet, our children are in school now. They won’t get another shot at the grade level educational experiences that they will lose in the coming years if we dismantle our public schools to balance the state budget.