This Washington
Murray, Senate Democrats Propose No-Education-Cuts Budget
State Sen. Ed Murray (D-43, Seattle), the senate ways and means chair, rolled out his budget proposal this morning. "In higher education, we make no cuts. In K-12, we make no cuts," Murray began.
How did Murray stave off cuts to education in the face of a $1 billion shortfall?
Well, as Fizz noted yesterday, his plan includes delaying payments to K-12 schools ($330 million worth) into the next biennium.[pullquote]"I'd like to hear the $330 million in cuts to the social safety net or to education that are preferable to changing the date of the payment, or the $330 million in tax increases that people would rather pay."—Sen. Lisa Brown[/pullquote]
The house Democrats made the same move (though they still cut about $60 million from higher ed and $7 million from K-12) and were criticized for using a budget "gimmick." Murray defended the move in Fizz yesterday, saying he'd rather use a little budgeting sleight of hand—it delays the local school payments by one day—than cut critical services, adding that the Republicans agreed to the one-time shift last year when they agreed on the 2011-13 budget. (This year's budgeting is supposed to be a simple refinement of the $32 billion budget passed last year, though certainly, the now-$1 billion shortfall has made it more dramatic than traditional follow-up year tweaking.)
Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown (D-3, Spokane) defended the move today. "I'd like to hear the $330 million in cuts to the social safety net or to education that are preferable to changing the date of the payment ... or the $330 million in tax increases that people would rather pay," she said.
In addition to the $330 million, Murray's budget cuts about $300 million, including: $28 million in health care cuts (though, unlike the Republicans' and the governor's budgets, Murray's budget preserves the Basic Health Plan and the Disability Lifeline—as does the house Democrats' budget); $87 million in human services; and $18 million in natural resources. (The house makes deeper cuts in all those areas. For a side-by-side comparison between the house and senate proposals see Appendix C here .)
Murray also books $74 million by consolidating firefighter and police pensions.
Education is the big winner in the Murray proposal, which includes no cuts to higher ed or K-12 education. (Gov. Chris Gregoire had proposed cutting $334 million from K-12 and $508 million from higher education and buying it back with a sales tax increase.) A windfall in caseload reductions of about $340 million, plus a slightly improved economy, allowed the Democrats to forgo the sales tax idea.
"We believe that if we are actually going to create jobs and continue to climb out of this great recession, we have to stop the bleeding in education and begin a discussion around how we invest in it," Murray said.
Murray's proposal puts $31 million in K-12 by closing the infamous big bank loophole for interest on first mortgages and by ending a tax break for wind power. Murray called the $31 million "a modest effort to address the McCleary decision"—the recent state Supreme Court ruling that said the state had to fund "basic education."
Murray said funding education is the way to combat the recession because it creates an educated workforce. "Creating jobs is the way to climb out of the recession."
The house Republicans also proposed fully funding education, but suggested more drastic cuts to do so.
Murray leaves a smaller ending fund balance than any of the other other proposals on the table, just $370 million in reserves as opposed to the $500 to $600 million that others, including Gregoire, the Republicans, and the house Democrats, have proposed.
Murray defended the decision: "The reason we have these reserves are for rainy days, and it is pouring."
Murray was praised by teachers for his budget. Teachers' union spokesman Rich Wood gushed:
Murray's Republican counterpart, Sen. Joe Zarelli (R-18, Ridgefield)—with whom Murray successfully worked last year to hammer out the budget—wasn't as sanguine about today's proposal.
Zarelli called for more reforms—such as scaling back state employee pensions—saying last year's "historic bipartisan budget" was the reason this year's shortfall got surprise help with $340 million in caseload savings. Zarelli said Murray's proposal "puts state government on course for yet another significant deficit next year."
How did Murray stave off cuts to education in the face of a $1 billion shortfall?
Well, as Fizz noted yesterday, his plan includes delaying payments to K-12 schools ($330 million worth) into the next biennium.[pullquote]"I'd like to hear the $330 million in cuts to the social safety net or to education that are preferable to changing the date of the payment, or the $330 million in tax increases that people would rather pay."—Sen. Lisa Brown[/pullquote]
The house Democrats made the same move (though they still cut about $60 million from higher ed and $7 million from K-12) and were criticized for using a budget "gimmick." Murray defended the move in Fizz yesterday, saying he'd rather use a little budgeting sleight of hand—it delays the local school payments by one day—than cut critical services, adding that the Republicans agreed to the one-time shift last year when they agreed on the 2011-13 budget. (This year's budgeting is supposed to be a simple refinement of the $32 billion budget passed last year, though certainly, the now-$1 billion shortfall has made it more dramatic than traditional follow-up year tweaking.)
Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown (D-3, Spokane) defended the move today. "I'd like to hear the $330 million in cuts to the social safety net or to education that are preferable to changing the date of the payment ... or the $330 million in tax increases that people would rather pay," she said.
In addition to the $330 million, Murray's budget cuts about $300 million, including: $28 million in health care cuts (though, unlike the Republicans' and the governor's budgets, Murray's budget preserves the Basic Health Plan and the Disability Lifeline—as does the house Democrats' budget); $87 million in human services; and $18 million in natural resources. (The house makes deeper cuts in all those areas. For a side-by-side comparison between the house and senate proposals see Appendix C here .)
Murray also books $74 million by consolidating firefighter and police pensions.
Education is the big winner in the Murray proposal, which includes no cuts to higher ed or K-12 education. (Gov. Chris Gregoire had proposed cutting $334 million from K-12 and $508 million from higher education and buying it back with a sales tax increase.) A windfall in caseload reductions of about $340 million, plus a slightly improved economy, allowed the Democrats to forgo the sales tax idea.
"We believe that if we are actually going to create jobs and continue to climb out of this great recession, we have to stop the bleeding in education and begin a discussion around how we invest in it," Murray said.
Murray's proposal puts $31 million in K-12 by closing the infamous big bank loophole for interest on first mortgages and by ending a tax break for wind power. Murray called the $31 million "a modest effort to address the McCleary decision"—the recent state Supreme Court ruling that said the state had to fund "basic education."
Murray said funding education is the way to combat the recession because it creates an educated workforce. "Creating jobs is the way to climb out of the recession."
The house Republicans also proposed fully funding education, but suggested more drastic cuts to do so.
Murray leaves a smaller ending fund balance than any of the other other proposals on the table, just $370 million in reserves as opposed to the $500 to $600 million that others, including Gregoire, the Republicans, and the house Democrats, have proposed.
Murray defended the decision: "The reason we have these reserves are for rainy days, and it is pouring."
Murray was praised by teachers for his budget. Teachers' union spokesman Rich Wood gushed:
This is the first state budget proposal since 2008 that does not cut funding for education. By writing a budget that protects students from further budget cuts, Senate Democrats are honoring the spirit of the Supreme Court’s recent McCleary ruling which declared the state has failed to uphold its constitutional paramount duty to amply fund basic education. nSignificantly, the Senate budget restores some funding for reducing K-3 class sizes. Delaying a school apportionment payment by one day is preferable to cutting $330 million more from our kids’ classrooms or important health services.
Murray's Republican counterpart, Sen. Joe Zarelli (R-18, Ridgefield)—with whom Murray successfully worked last year to hammer out the budget—wasn't as sanguine about today's proposal.
Zarelli called for more reforms—such as scaling back state employee pensions—saying last year's "historic bipartisan budget" was the reason this year's shortfall got surprise help with $340 million in caseload savings. Zarelli said Murray's proposal "puts state government on course for yet another significant deficit next year."
