If school budget cuts depended on February revenues, start panicking
The governor and the speaker both said that higher education cuts would depend on February revenue figures. If so, we are in now in trouble. Just received the bad news e-mail from the governor’s office that revenues are down 9.9 percent for the month, which is worse than what had been expected.
Brace yourselves. Bigger cuts are coming. I am not sure how the Legislature can avoid a tax increase of some sort, given these dreadful figures. But lawmakers are still insisting they won’t raise taxes, which means something has to go. Will it be in higher ed or k-12?
Governor Perdue Announces February Revenue Figures
ATLANTA – Governor Sonny Perdue announced today that net revenue collections for the month of February 2010 (FY 2010) totaled $567,251,000 compared to $629,448,000 for February 2009 (FY09), a decrease of $62,197,000 or 9.9 percent.
The percentage decrease year-to-date for FY10 compared to FY09 is 12.7 percent.
Our AJC analysis this morning delves into the implications of continued falling revenues:
“The only thing growing is unemployment,” said Rep. Ben Harbin (R-Evans), the chairman of the budget-writing House Appropriations Committee. “If we don’t need to be doing it, we’re probably going to stop.”
The immediate impact won’t be clear for a day or two, when Perdue makes his next move. The way the state budget process works, the governor sets a revenue estimate for each fiscal year, or how much money he and his economists believe the state will bring in. Lawmakers use that estimate to write a budget. But, when the actual revenue collections fall short of the estimate, cuts to spending are necessary to ensure a balanced budget.
Perdue is expected to announce a lowering of his revenue estimate for the current fiscal year and for fiscal 2011, which begins July 1, sometime this week.
The current estimate for cuts to the 2011 budget? More than $1 billion, which comes on top of more than $3 billion in cuts the past two years.
“What this means is exactly what we’ve been preparing for,” Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said. “These are unprecedented economic times that we face. You have to prioritize what the essential government functions that we do that are going to have to go by the wayside.”
But, on a hopeful note, Perdue’s office said that of February’s $62.2 million drop in revenue, about $50 million is due to a spike in income tax refunds. More taxpayers are filing electronically than a year ago, the Department of Revenue said.
Things also looked less dire for the state’s higher education system. After two weeks of fighting and proclamations that the system was all but doomed to disproportionate cuts, one key lawmaker said Monday that colleges and universities will fare better despite the new revenue numbers.
“It’ll be a manageable cut,” said Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs), who chairs the higher education budget subcommittee.
“What we’re going to come out with,” he said, “is something significantly less” than the projected $300 million cut that led to fears last week of thousands of layoffs at colleges and universities, massive tuition increases, and an end to popular programs.
But if higher education is spared, the cuts must come from somewhere. Unless, as some have suggested, lawmakers look to other sources of new revenue.
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74 comments Add your comment
blurb
March 8th, 2010
3:33 pm
Why are the amount of cuts so dependent on one month’s revenue figures? It’s as if the state lives from paycheck to paycheck.
Write Your Board Members
March 8th, 2010
3:33 pm
Maureen
While there is nothing at all funny about this topic, your headline made me smile at least!
DeKalb Conservative
March 8th, 2010
4:14 pm
It’s not a fair statistic. In February 2009 people were still drunk on inauguration “hope and change” emotions. February 2010 in comparison was more like a stimulus hangover.
Attentive Parent
March 8th, 2010
4:18 pm
Maureen,
In looking over the state’s RTT application, it clearly says that even if Georgia were to win, It’s a 4 year payout of the grant amount.
I’m not sure very many people understand that.
Clarence
March 8th, 2010
4:40 pm
@blurb- that’s because we only have four months left to make THIS year’s budget. The bigger the hole for FY10, hten the hole for FY11 gets even bigger.
Clarence
March 8th, 2010
4:41 pm
And we ARE living from paycheck to paycheck… and the budget is bigger than the paycheck.
octex
March 8th, 2010
4:56 pm
How drastic is this going to get? Will we have to start to shut down schools? Will students have to pay a fee to attend public school in the near future?
DeKalb Conservative
March 8th, 2010
5:14 pm
Outsider’s opinion, but if I was behind the planning, I’d run with 3 scenarios (and keep them locked up).
- Plan A: 10% cuts
- Plan B: 20% cuts
- Plan C: 30% cuts
- Plan D: bare minimum
Everyone keeps gasping as cuts go from 10 to 15, to 20, etc. We need to know what the bare minimum is. For example, is the bare minimum 50% of 2009? Is it more, or less? What are the core essential services required to achieve a bare minimum?
Let’s pick on DeKalb, maybe a stimulus-funded trip to Hollywood wasn’t the best idea. Maybe selling insiders cars for thousands less than value on the condition it gets new tires and a paint job isn’t the smartest.
Think of the minimums. What are the fixed costs and what are the variable costs per student?
North Fulton Parent
March 8th, 2010
5:37 pm
The February numbers are terrible and yet the legislature is still considering mandating high school kids take first aid in health. As I’m sure there are no funds attached to the mandate… because there are, essentially, no extra funds at all… how will the inevitable costs be covered? NEWS FLASH… there is no money, no extra state money, no extra county money…. no money right now. So, back off legislature!!! Keep your “good ideas” out of this year’s plans. No one can afford to fund them.
flipper
March 8th, 2010
5:44 pm
Here’s a start… uniform start date late in August or after Labor Day so schools don’t spend heaps of money cooling buildings in August. Vacation/recreation industries thrive… teachers and students can get summer jobs which means more revenue for the state and more money for teachers whose pay has been cut. Also, students can try to offset the college tuition increases coming down the pike with summer work. As it stands now, summer is too short for many to get any sort of meaningful summer job..
Then… get over yourselves and allow Sunday alcohol sales. Tax the heck out of cigarettes.
Get rid of the CRCT except in grades where it’s mandatory for NCLB funding. Lose the EOCT or the high school graduation tests and any other high school testing that is not mandated by NCLB. Keep AP/SAT/IB but don’t fund it.. if kids want to take it they can come up with the fee.
Require all school systems to cut 20% of their central administrative staff. Require all systems to cap their millage rate before receiving any QBE funding.
Lose the stupid high school curriculum.
Tony
March 8th, 2010
5:49 pm
First, the February dip in revenue is present every year and is explained by the tax refunds that start going out. The long-term average decline in revenue is the number that’s most important. And let’s be real about this number – it is way lower than was projected for this year and that is why the state is in the crisis. That is why everyone is taking a pay cut and furlough days. Next year’s budget is usually based upon some sort of extrapolation of previous years’ revenue. Well, when you extrapolate from this year, last year and the year before …… DISASTER.
Folks, this is not some sort of blip on the radar screen. It will require some serious adjustments. For the state to maintain the level of services its residents expect will require a tax increase. No way around it. The only other option is to continue cutting from the budget. What’s it going to be?
Priorities will be clearly demonstrated during the budget negotiations. I doubt seriously that K-12 education will be given the kind of priority it deserves. But who knows? Maybe our representatives will realize that an investment in education will be an investment in the future of this state.
hmmmm....
March 8th, 2010
6:53 pm
flipper for president!
Right on sister!
It's Me
March 8th, 2010
7:08 pm
Allow Sunday alcohol sales, increase sales tax on tobacco by 1%, open Underground Atlanta to gambling, elminate “tax free” shoping days…many ideas on ways to generate revenue but the gold dome is too stubborn to make some really hard choices. Get over it already and make some changes in this state that will actually HELP US!
Echo
March 8th, 2010
7:37 pm
@ Flipper…YOU ROCK! “Sin tax”(alcohol, tobacco, gambling) can make up for some of the shortfall. If you can afford alcohol, cigarettes or gambling then you can afford the extra taxes! Besides the health care costs there are other costs associated with alcohol and cigs…they need to cough up more funds to offset those costs everyone pays for in the form of increased health care & insurance, law enforcement, etc…
Maynard G. Cribbs
March 8th, 2010
8:12 pm
Hopefully this panick will cause Sonny and the General Assembly to consider gambling (dogs, horses, blackjack, et al.). Gambling is people paying voluntary taxes. Too much of this money is going to Alabama and Mississippi.
@tony
March 8th, 2010
8:29 pm
Right on brother, I agree with you all the way—what will it take–appearantly more than 15 months of declining revenue
md
March 8th, 2010
8:31 pm
Flipper, thank you for saying that.
God Bless the Teacher!
March 8th, 2010
9:31 pm
Flipper…I agree with you 95%. How do you justify to “require all school systems to cut 20% of their central administrative staff?” True, many districts are administration heavy but to require all districts to amputate 20% of it’s central office workforce is ridiculous. Believe it or not there are many things that must be managed (e.g., curriculum, grants, personnel, payroll, etc.) that can’t be combined into one person’s job requirements. One of the districts in which I’ve recently worked had one secretary being shared by three coordinators. She was overworked and underpaid for what she did each day. The idea sounds good, but the logistical adaptations needed to carry it out would be unwieldy. Other than the aforementioned, good job!
bootney farnsworth
March 8th, 2010
9:36 pm
sadly, its gonna require draconian cuts to make college administrators realise this is serious.
based on what I’ve seen and heard, the BOR is counting on the legislators backing down. almost no school, ABAC being the sole exception, has made a real good faith effort to actually deal with
reality.
RBN
March 8th, 2010
10:13 pm
Just think what it would be like without the $2 billion in federal stimulus money proping up Georgia’s budget. Oh, wait that is 2012. A disaster that will swamp georgia’s schools and universities without strong leadership and enhance revenues (read:tax increases).
ScienceTeacher671
March 8th, 2010
10:21 pm
@octex: “Will we have to start to shut down schools? Will students have to pay a fee to attend public school in the near future?”
The Georgia Constitution says that providing “an adequate education” for grades 1-12 is “a primary obligation of the state” and that the education should be free and paid for by tax dollars.
I suppose we could argue about what “an adequate education” might be, but it is beginning to appear that our lawmakers aren’t willing to meet their constitutional obligations if it requires raising taxes or removing tax breaks — even if the taxes are on discretionary items rather than necessities.
ScienceTeacher671
March 8th, 2010
10:57 pm
@God Bless the Teacher! “One of the districts in which I’ve recently worked had one secretary being shared by three coordinators.”
How sad. In the private company where I worked before becoming a teacher, there are no more secretaries. Those who used to have secretaries were told that their voice mail could screen calls and take messages, and they could type their own memos and reports using the word processing software on their computers.
Meanwhile, our system has secretaries who make more than some of our teachers….plus voice mail, plus computers with word processing software, etc…
bootney farnsworth
March 9th, 2010
7:13 am
and yet the BOR and college administrators still refuse to cut the waste in the system
its almost like the alleged braintrust in higher ed have made a suicide pact
Frustrated
March 9th, 2010
7:15 am
Someone should look at the inflated salaries at the department of human services. that agency is top heavy and the commissioner is responsible for destroying a great department serving citizens in need of services. she has allowed multiple cases of misuse of funds in dfacs.
The Cynical White Boy
March 9th, 2010
7:16 am
I, for one, see a silver lining in this cloud…and it is THIS:
At LEAST our STATE government has to BALANCE it’s checkbook – just like we normal human beings do.
Compare that fact with our “HOPE & CHANGE, TAX, BORROW & SPEND” FEDERAL government which keeps right on mortgaging our future, and that of our kids, and their kids.
Pelosi, Reid and Oblah-blah could take an example from Sonny, David and Casey. Fat chance, huh?
bootney farnsworth
March 9th, 2010
7:22 am
common sense solutions to higher ed. budget woes.
#1: go to a four day work week for the next two years.
#2: allow folks to work from home as much as possible.
#3: a freeze on all non educational new initatives unless they
are funded by grants or outside donors.
#4: require two year schools to scale back or eliminate their
athletic programs.
verdi73
March 9th, 2010
7:24 am
My friends and I predicated this is what would happen when you cut pay and furlough state workers. We and our families have clamped down on spending, thus less tax revenue, thus drop in tax collections, more cuts in pay, clamp down even more, less tax revenue. Did they not think this would happen? We don’t mind doing our fair share, but when you talk about a huge group losing money every month it adds up.
bootney farnsworth
March 9th, 2010
7:24 am
if you wanna toss blame, fine. do it honestly.
the state legislature is dominated by the GOP. has been
for years.
they got us into this current mess.
the problem is pork, not party.
bootney farnsworth
March 9th, 2010
7:26 am
@ Verdi
assuming our legislature thinks about anything besides themselves
is being very gracious.
when we started the pays cuts & furloughs, it was an attempt to
band aid the problem, not to fix it.
bootney farnsworth
March 9th, 2010
7:42 am
more common sense solutions
Get out of the MLK Jr. entertainment business. no disrespect to
Dr. King, but way too many schools do some kind of quasi
broadway show every year allegedly to celebrate King.
In truth they’re little more than ego stroking for admin. and a
phoney show of how much they value “diversity”.
I never met Dr. King, but based on his own words I think he’d
prefer all the money and hours spent on these galas be spent
teaching our kids
Ron
March 9th, 2010
8:04 am
Quit subsidizing the likes of gun ranges, golf courses & camp grounds. Either they are self supporting or they are closed. Cut the non-essentials prior to cutting education. Close the state school board and let us have local control.
Corey
March 9th, 2010
8:14 am
You can’t keep promising people that government in 2010 can operate at the same cost it did back in 1965. Yes they will love you for your low tax stance and keep reelecting you, but sooner or later reality will set in. The same folk who praised you will turn against you when things turn sour but demand you not utter the “T” word not even on tobacco products. Damned if you do damned if you don’t.
tim
March 9th, 2010
8:24 am
Taxing smokers is a quickly drying hole. This monetary crisis is far bigger than any of us can grasp and it is not over. Tax revenues are down because of a real twenty percent unemployment. When 10 million good paying jobs magically appear; then, tax revenues will be fine. Scan news sources and you will see state and local budget problems in most parts of the country. Government employees should be thankful that they still have a job with benefits. Did you really think that “service” jobs were going to be great for the economy? Your answer is in your budget shortfalls!
PappyHappy
March 9th, 2010
8:35 am
We are quickly placing ourselves in an illogical logic loop. We are not going to attract good jobs in this state with the current perception of our public education system (loss of accreditation, administrators cheating on CRCTs, low high school grad rates, and low scores). There can be fat cut — ‘grief counselors’ as an example (permit parents to assume the responsibility of parenthood), but folks, if we cannot turn out kids who can at least read and write, we will be turning away jobs for the next decade.
We could use this time to tighten up our standards; require our teachers to become certified in their subjects; and get parents involved in parenting. K-12 cannot get much worse, and cutting TEACHERS is not the answer! STAFF YES — TEACHERS NO!
just wondering
March 9th, 2010
8:43 am
in all these budget cut proposals I have yet to hear anyone suggest cutting football programs.
whatever
March 9th, 2010
9:20 am
@just wondering, this is the south, that idea is blasphemy
Ron
March 9th, 2010
9:21 am
Just wondering, how dare you attack a sports program. These are essential to the learning process….sarcasm off….If a sports program is not self supporting it should be cut. The state needs to get back to their job, not funding every last special interest.
Gwalk
March 9th, 2010
9:27 am
WHAT HAPPENED TO MONEY FROM THE LOTTERY!!! I THOUGHT THAT MONEY WAS SUPPOSED TO BE USED FOR EDUCATION. OUR KIDS EDUCATION SHOULD BE THE LAST THING ON THE BUDGET CUT LIST YOU MORONS! I SAY WE START A REVOLT AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT AND TAKE THE POWER BACK! THIS IS OUT OF CONTROL PEOPLE. DON’T YOU HAVE ANY PRIDE FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN?? THIS GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO CUT US ALL TO THE BONE BEFORE LONG. “FOR THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE…” MY a*$ THIS HAS GOT TO STOP! STAND UP PEOPLE, AND LETS FIGHT FOR WHAT WE BELIEVE IN. NO NEW TAXES…NO EDUCATION BUDGET CUTS!!!! MAYBE IS GOVERNMENT STAFFING WAS IN THE BUDGET CUT PLAN THERE WOULD BE LESS LIKELYHOOD OF A CUT AT ALL. THESE MORONS DON’T EVEN PAY TAXES!! WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR? SOMONE IN OUR FAMILY, HUSBAND, WIFE, SON, DAUGHTER TO LOSE THEIR JOB?? THEN YOU GET ANGRY… WELL THEN IT’S TO LATE!!! STAND UP NOW PEOPLE…STAND UP NOW! GOD BLESS
John
March 9th, 2010
9:28 am
If students start a montn later, they get out a month later. They will have the same time as they do now to work summer jobs and the costs to run the schools will be the same. Nothing is saved by changing the start date.
getyourown
March 9th, 2010
9:51 am
Tax bibles and churches – they’re a business just like any other and they compete with other businesses.
Gordon
March 9th, 2010
10:02 am
This sense of panic should be what we feel on the federal level, but because they can pretend that money never has to be paid back, not only is it not felt but a major new entitlement may be created soon. Imagine if the state of Georgia were to propose something like that right now.
Get your Facts
March 9th, 2010
10:02 am
Lottery funds can ONLY be used for three things: HOPE scholarships, Pre-K programs, and technology for schools (which was eliminated years ago because of the demands of HOPE). Lottery funds cannot be used, according to the VOTER approved lottery act in the 1990’s, for salaries, capital improvements (buildings, etc), textbooks, buses, etc. For years now, the Legislature has cut off one revenue stream after another by giving tax breaks to one special interest group and then another. No new taxes may sound popular but the bottom line is that somebody has to pay for essential government services and education is an essential government service. As quoted from the state constitution:
Article VIII. Education
Section I. Public Education
Paragraph I. Public education; free public education prior to college or postsecondary level; support by taxation.
The provision of an adequate public education for the citizens shall be a primary obligation of the State of Georgia. Public education for the citizens prior to the college or postsecondary level shall be free and shall be provided for by taxation.
N
March 9th, 2010
10:03 am
Article makes no mention of what the state was Forecasting for Feb. So its down from last year, seems that was expected. How does this compare to what they expected.
LatinTeacher
March 9th, 2010
10:09 am
Thanks, Flipper. You are the next State Schools’ Superintendent. Some on this blog probably already know, but some may not. Recipients of free or reduced lunch also have their AP exams subsidized by the state. Ridiculous. I have some students who are getting close to $500 in AP tests paid for through this loophole.
just wondering
March 9th, 2010
10:15 am
In reading this the indication is that higher education is taking priority over k-12 education. This seems backwards because in the long run this will dwindle the population of students who can pursue higher education, thus leading to increased tuition.
Lyn Olliff
March 9th, 2010
10:21 am
The state has been cutting state government, the university system, and K-12 schools for 2-3 years now. Obviously the cuts are NOT working. The more people you laid off, the less income you are going to bring in. I know it’s not a popular idea, but I don’t see any way to get out of this mess without raising taxes. I also believe there is still a lot of “pork” in the budget that needs to be cut. I just don’t understand why our state representatives can’t see this.
Gwalk
March 9th, 2010
10:25 am
Get your facts: If the Lottery budget has been amended to cut Pre-K programs because of HOPE demand, then why could it not be amended to help save teacher salaries? I understand Baseball, Football, Golfers Basketball players etc. can make millions but we can’t amend the “approved lottery act of the 1990’s” to include teacher salaries? I don’t know a single teacher who teaches kids in a public school system that makes anything close to a million dollars but yet we have organizations throughout America where athletes, etc., who virtually make no difference in the value of our society, make millions and millions of dollars to play a sport…give me a break!
robertsgt40
March 9th, 2010
10:27 am
Those kids don’t need no book learning. All they need to do is learn how to shoot a gun. Their future is in the military anyway. We’re investing in their future through KBR, GE, Blackwater and the rest of the military industrial complex. Plenty of openings for worker bees(make that killer bees).
IBW
March 9th, 2010
10:32 am
Teachers are over paid. Benefits too generous. Many I have seen leave teaching only to return as wonder about their skills in civilian market. Their union will be like the autoworkers in time. Charter schools save money and teach better in my view. Students have seen teachers lavished with salaries / benefits / time off and expect this in their own work place. Problem are resources are scare ( remember economics 101 ) and reaching point where if have 11 people and 10 gallons of water and each person needs a gallon per day have issues especially when 2 people of the 11 bring most of the water resources to the others. Econ professor noted this example when he and his family experienced the “great depression”. Purdue needs to curtail school systems that are just too expensive for the product they are producing. Teachers can scream “its the parents that are the problems”. A principal I knew once and respected told a class once when you hear that it comes from people who know they are wrong and trying to put you on defensive mode.
WorkerBee
March 9th, 2010
10:37 am
How about we cut people who have retired once but then 60 days later they come back to work part time. That makes no sense!! Double dipping in a economy like this should be a crime! If you are 70 years and older you should not be working. They are taking away extra income and jobs for people that need to work. There are a LOT of retirees where I work who are working full and part time. That could save a lot of money right there!