(File photo by Capitol Media Services)
We seem to have two choices to solve the state’s budget crisis — slash more than a $1 trillion from education (that’s billion with a “t”), or borrow up to our eyeballs and hope the Santa Claus in Washington delivers Christmas in February.
Outgoing Gov. Janet Napolitano released her final budget proposal this morning. On paper, it eliminates a $1.2 billion deficit this year (although legislative budget experts now predict a $1.6 billion gap) and a nearly $3 billion deficit for the next fiscal year. Her numbers claim she would reduce state spending by $975 million over the two years. But Napolitano couldn’t find a single program or state worker that Arizonans can live without during this deep recession.
Instead, she managed to find new accounting gimmicks such as postponing, but not eliminating, payments to the public universities and state Medicaid insurance program. She also would borrow more by pledging future tobacco settlement money and lottery revenues.
As uncomfortable as many of these proposals are to fiscal conversatives, the alternative that Republican budget-writers have come up with includes slashing $900 million from K-12 education or 20 percent of total state spending. Rufus Glasper, chancellor of the Maricopa County Community College District, has started to prepare for the possibility of losing all state aid for the largest system of its type in the country.
Dire days for Arizona, indeed.
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As much as hate the idea of reducing funding for education, the simple fact is that the vast majority of our tax dollars go toward funding education in one way or another.
It seems sensible that the folks that get the vast majority of tax dollars during the good times should be able to understand that the vast majority of cuts will need to come from them as well, after all that’s where most of the spending is.
Don’t misunderstand, I don’t like cutting into education, but let’s get real. Most Junior High Schools look more like small college campuses from only a few years ago. We simply can’t afford to keep building giant schools and have school districts next to one another.
It’s time to cut back on the “nice to have’s”.
Sounds like you don’t have kids. We’re already ranked 49th when it comes to spending on Arizona’s children. And the thing is that reductions aren’t going to come in the form of fewer districts right next to each other.
Reductions will come in salaries. So those ‘college campuses’ will have fewer teachers and more students in each class and less learning will actually happen.
Higher education will be decimated. They estimate that the true effect of the cuts will be 20,000 jobs lost. That’s 20,000 more people in line for unemployment benefits. That’s 20,000 more people that will have to be supported by those who still have jobs and pay taxes.
Yea, the money has to come from somewhere. But what good does it do you to cut off the source of much economic growth?
We need to look at the big picture and a skilled workforce is our best hope at coming out of this the quickest.