Sen. Wise: Get the hankies ready

The Senate's higher education and Pre-K through 12 committees won't know until next week how much money they have to work with for the 2008-09 budget, but they are anticipating cuts of more than $1-billion and as much as $1.5-billion.
 
That means per-student spending is likely to decline for the first time in years, conceded Sen. Stephen Wise, chair of the Pre-K through 12 appropriations committee.
 
The base funding pot used for students could decline by at least $15-million next year, for example.
 
"I have hankies for next week," joked Wise, R-Jacksonville. "It is going to be really tough."

Wise said his approach will be targeted cuts, not across-the board cuts that affect all equally. Veteran Sen. Jim King, fellow Jacksonville Republican, has warned against that approach, which he says is politically divisive and unfair.

But Wise, echoing a sentiment voiced by House Speaker Marco Rubio, said "maybe there's programs we ought not to have. I don't know what that will be. But if we just cut it equally, we'll have a whole lot more groups saying, 'Oh, Geez!' "

A budget spreadsheet that shows the starting point for education next year shows that some programs could be eliminated altogether, because they are currently funded with one-time money. Those include a $1.9-million pilot reading program and a $2.9-million school safety and preparedness program.

Other programs could see dramatic cuts, including the Excellent Teaching incentive program, which stands to lose $30-million from its $88-million budget. Reading initiatives could lose nearly $18-million, bringing their base budget to $58-million.

And Wise warned that those figures are "as good as it's going to look." Translation: the cuts ultimately approved by the time session ends will be far steeper and more painful.

He vowed to seek input from education lobbyists and educators, and to consider options like delaying the implementation of the class size amendment - a move that could save the state $600-million next year.

"We have to be mindful of the constitution, but if we can delay it a little bit without affecting education, we're going to look at that," he said.

House schools and learning council chairman Joe Pickens, R-Palatka, said earlier this week that he doesn't want to cut the full $1.5-billion from education. But he conceded it is inevitable costly school programs like mentoring will see cuts.

Comments

The blog suggests that "per-student spending is likely to decline for the first time in years." But my question is has the Base Student Allocation EVER been reduced year over year in the history of the State of Florida? The answer, I believe, is "NO!" Some believe that the BSA was slightly reduced year over year during one of the years in the early 90s (the last time we had a Bush Presidency) because the economy tanked so badly, but I remember that the BSA was reduced only to the point that it received no increase.

As such, these "leaders" are talking about cutting schools in an unprecedented way in the entire history of the State. It is time for new management in the Legisalture.

Also, delaying implementation of CSR might save the districts money this year, but the Constitution mandates that the Legislature provide enough funding to either reach the caps or reduce by two. So, it is incorrect to suggest that $600 million can be saved by the State by delaying implementation to the next level in the districts.

But there is plenty of money for the 3% raises for the members. And any budget "reductions" WON'T take place in the House or Senate.

The sheet released today only removed non-recurring from the 2007-2008 FY budget in preparation for the BASE BUDGET for 2008-2009 FY. Because the state cannot afford to even fully fund the BASE BUDGET because of their failed economic policies, they will have to make over $1 billion in cuts to that budget. So the $1.9 million for a reading program and $2.8 million for a school safety program don't count toward the $1 billion.