Friday, January 30, 2009
As the current legislative session begins, Kansas lawmakers are deadlocked on the issue of the state budget. With the state facing a $186 million deficit, Republicans want to cut $300 million from the budget. This would not only eliminate the deficit, but would also provide a cushion if state revenues fall because of the current recession.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius supports using funds from the upcoming federal stimulus plan to erase the current deficit. Such a plan is irresponsible, as it is crafted solely for political gain. While federal aid could erase the current deficit, it would only increase future deficits, starting in fiscal year 2011. Eventually, cuts are going to have to be made. To use federal aid as a temporary solution is only an attempt to pass unpopular cuts off to future politicians.
State legislators, both Republican and Democrat, agree expenditures must be slashed and the budget balanced. They cannot, however, reach an agreement on how to accomplish this. Democrats want to target specific agencies and departments to make the necessary cuts. Republicans favor making cuts across the board. At this point, neither side is willing to compromise. Democrats are opposed to across-the-board cuts, as they imply cuts in funding for education. Republicans counter that across the board cuts are the only way to slash the desired $300 million.
Perhaps, in this case, both sides are right. The Democrats’ plan to target specific agencies and departments should be utilized. Huge bureaucracies should be targeted for expenditure cuts. While this plan may be attributed to Democrats, it should be a dream come true for Republicans, as the Republican Party typically favors limited government and strives to eliminate big government bureaucracy.
Unfortunately, because of the magnitude of the state’s budget crisis, targeting government bureaucracy will not be enough to balance the state’s budget. This will only be accomplished with expenditure cuts across the board.
The major resistance to across-the-board cuts is due, at least in part, to the threat it poses to funding for public education. No one with an intelligent opinion, on either side of the political spectrum, wants to see funding for education slashed dramatically. In fact, education is probably one of the best investments the state makes. Because education is the state’s largest expenditure, accounting for approximately 45 percent of the total budget according to the Governor’s Budget Report, it will naturally be an area targeted to cut spending.
As a public school graduate, I understand the importance of properly funding it. Therefore, I am hesitant to support cuts to such funding. However, the Legislative Research Department estimates that only 60 percent of education funding makes it into the classroom.
That means that of the approximately $6 billion the state spends on education in the fiscal year 2009, $2.4 billion of that will cover administrative, and other non-classroom, costs. State legislators would be better served to ensure that more money marked for education makes it into the classroom.
During the next several weeks, there will inevitably be many different plans put forward attempting to balance the state budget. A resolution in the best interest of the state will require a bipartisan effort, first targeting governmental bureaucracies followed by across-the-board cuts. The state budget must be balanced, even if it means making difficult, and unpopular, cuts.
— O’Neill is a Topeka junior in economics and history
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Comments
O'Neill: Budget crisis needs bipartisan solution
I have always been hesitant when talking about spending cuts for education, but rational cuts in K-12 education probably wouldn't have the negative effects portrayed by those interested in keeping the budget high and not seeking other solutions like paying teachers based off of their ability to teach.
The USA spends more money per capita on its students than any other country in the world, yet we are falling behind on education. Perhaps something other than funding is to blame for our lack of achievement. Kansas is a nationally noted example of the disconnect between increased school funding and increased student performance.
The large amount of money we spend on our schools comes from taxpayers, and a very large portion of the taxes paid in Kansas come from businesses. Since Kansas is rated as one of the least business friendly states in the midwest area now, this makes Kansas less attractive to new ventures. A less business-attractive Kansas means that fewer of our publicly funded higher education students will end up in Kansas for the duration of their careers because there will be fewer jobs available.
So in essence, spending on education CAN be too high when the taxes that result from it end up allowing fewer jobs to be created. This makes education a less effective investment for the taxpayers of Kansas.
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