The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

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July 2, 2009

Kansas: Governor cuts school aid amid budget changes

The Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. — Gov. Mark Parkinson imposed another round of spending cuts Thursday to keep Kansas’ budget balanced, trimming aid to public schools and higher education funding.

A few of the $160 million in adjustments announced by the Democratic governor will require approval from the Republican-controlled Legislature when it reconvenes in January. But most — including education reductions — take effect immediately under a state law that allows the governor to make cuts to head off a budget shortfall.

Some prominent Republican lawmakers questioned whether Parkinson went far enough, but one GOP leader described the governor’s actions as prudent.

A deficit loomed on the second day of the state’s 2010 fiscal year because tax collections for the just-ended fiscal year were $126 million short of expectations. The state already sought to cope by delaying tax refunds and payments to school districts from June into July.

But paying the delayed bills — and others due in coming weeks — also will require internal borrowing. Parkinson plans to ask legislative leaders Monday for permission to transfer $700 million from various funds into the state’s main bank account to forestall cash crunches in coming months.

He didn’t rule out the possibility that the state’s revenues will continue to fall below expectations, requiring even more budget cuts — or even consideration of tax increases next year.

“My hope and my optimism is that our revenue numbers will stabilize,” Parkinson said at a news conference. “If the revenue numbers deteriorate further than what we anticipate, everything’s on the table.”

The fiscal 2010 budget already contained less spending financed by state tax dollars than the fiscal 2009 budget.

House GOP leaders had sought even deeper cuts before legislators finished their work in May, and Appropriations Committee Chairman Kevin Yoder suggested Parkinson was still too optimistic.

“I’m just nervous that we haven’t gone far enough,” said Yoder, an Overland Park Republican. “If he gambles and is wrong all the time, it ends up being harder on everyone.”

But Senate President Steve Morris endorsed Parkinson’s relatively “gentle” approach.

“The situation’s fluid enough, we just have to go one step at a time and evaluate things as we go along, and that’s what he’s doing,” said Morris, a Hugoton Republican.

Aid to public schools was a natural target for additional cuts because it consumes more than half of the state’s tax dollars. It already had been reduced before Parkinson sliced an additional $39 million Thursday.

Schools have now seen a cut of $163 million, and their base aid has dropped by $215 per student, about 4.8 percent, to $4,218.

State universities, community colleges and technical schools will lose an additional $15 million because of Parkinson’s actions. The universities already planned to raise tuition in the fall.

Mark Tallman, a lobbyist for the Kansas Association of School Boards, said school districts already had anticipated cutting their staffs by about 3,000 in the coming school year. He said summer school programs, coaching staffs and bus routes are especially vulnerable.

He noted that districts still face federal requirements to continue improving students’ scores on standardized reading and math tests.

“No one is saying, ‘OK, what you’re doing is enough,’” he said. “We’re still hearing, ‘You’ve got to do even more. You’ve got to do even better.’”

The state started ramping up spending on public schools in 2005 because of Kansas Supreme Court rulings in an education funding lawsuit. The state’s backtracking already has inspired talk of new litigation from school districts and parents.

Parkinson’s announcement came the same day the federal government announced that the nation’s unemployment rate hit a 26-year high in June, at 9.5 percent. The economy has created months of budget problems for states, and several, including California and Illinois, began their new fiscal years without spending plans in place.

Parkinson’s new round of cuts are targeted, because some general government agencies already had seen double-digit reductions in their budgets. The state has closed minimum-security prison units and increased court fees.

The governor announced that the state also will suspend operations at the Beloit Juvenile Correctional Facility in north-central Kansas on Aug. 28 and trim $30 million from highway maintenance projects.

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