By Bryan Corbin, Evansville Courier & Press
INDIANAPOLIS - Gov. Mitch Daniels today proposed a state budget that basically flatlines K-12 education, with only a small increase, and uses the recent cuts to other state agencies as the new baseline for the next budget.
The state's public colleges and universities would receive less funding under Daniels' budget proposal, and his administration is asking them to make administrative savings, such as consolidated purchasing, something he already is advocating for K-12 schools.
Because of the recession and the drop-off in state tax revenues, Daniels said he would have to postpone some of the initiatives he campaigned on last year, such as fully funding full-day kindergarten and providing two years of college scholarships.
The governor announced his proposal for the next two-year state budget today at the Indianapolis Rotary Club. The Legislature, which convenes for its 2009 session Wednesday, will begin the process of taking apart the proposal and crafting the actual budget legislation, which must pass no later than April 29.
The budget proposal Daniels is submitting this week to fund state government, school operating costs and social services will total $28.344 billion, which is approximately $10 million less than the amount of tax revenue the state is projected to collect over the next two years, meaning it would end in a surplus at the end of the two-year cycle in June 2011, if projections are correct.
The governor's budget proposal includes a slight increase in funding for all K-12 public schools, $80 million over two years, which essentially maintains current funding levels, given increasing expenses.
In light of a $763 million shortfall projected in the current state budget that ends June 30, Daniels has already ordered cuts throughout state government agencies, including 1 percent cuts to universities and ordering state employees to forgo raises. Those cuts, a cumulative 8 percent overall, are the basis for the next budget that starts July 1 that Daniels is introducing and the Legislature will consider.
Among the proposed cuts in the new budget are subsidies for public broadcasting stations, tourism programs and a waste-tire recycling program, among many others. Daniels said he wants to avoid any cuts in State Police troopers and avoid early release of prisoners, as other states facing budget shortfalls have resorted to.
Daniels' budget proposal would not dip into the state's rainy-day-fund reserves that now totals $1.3 billion.
He noted that a previous revenue forecast overestimated how much the state would collect by nearly $1 billion. "I think it would be the height of folly to take the easy route to start spending down the savings account, not knowing how badly we may need it," Daniels said.
The leader of the House Democrats, Speaker Patrick Bauer, said the recession is the worst he's seen; and he indicated the Legislature may have to tap the rainy day fund in order to get the state budget to balance.
"We have a rainy day fund, which is for a rainy day. So when it rains, that's what that's for," Bauer, D-South Bend, said. "I think there's ways to use that to put people to work and make sure our workforce is competitive."