Mike Smith, the lobbyist for ASA (Arizona School Administrators), reported last Thursday that the reason nothing is happening with the budget is that Governor Brewer is reportedly delaying submitting the application for stimulus funds until she receives a commitment from the legislature that they will balance the budget with a combination of cuts and revenue enhancements. Because the legislature is very reluctant to increase taxes, they are looking at alternative ways to increase revenue. This would include such things as suspending all tax credits (not just the tax credits for education) and possibly keeping the property equalization tax (about $250 million for K-12). While we are not seeing much happening, supposedly a lot is happening behind closed doors. One source said that the Governor might submit the application this week or next.
For those of you keeping up on this in the news, you probably heard Superintendent Horne saying schools have overreacted and RIF’d more than was necessary. He did a press release http://www.ade.state.az.us/pio/Press-Releases/2009/pr03-31-09.pdf at the end of March supporting his position and claiming the cuts to K-12 will be around 2%. A few comments about this. First, I hope he is correct that more people have been RIF’d than necessary. As I have said in our district, as soon as the legislature adopts a budget we will bring back as many employees as we can. What Superintendent Horne hasn’t discussed is what school districts would do if too few were RIF’d. Second, if you read his press release you will notice that he put the entire amount of stimulus funds in the 2010 fiscal year. If the Governor were to do that, he is probably correct in stating the cuts will be minimal. However, every source I have heard talk about this say that the Governor will spread the stimulus money over two years. If she put it all in next year’s budget as Superintendent Horne suggests, what would happen the following year? Finally, he mentioned in his press release that some districts face larger cuts due to failed overrides or declining enrollment. That is exactly the situation we are facing and is important to keep in mind even if the only thing being talked about in the media is a 2% cut.
