From the Daytona Beach News Journal editorial page
Volusia County school officials won't take much comfort in knowing that their budget predicament is no worse than the funding crisis facing schools in many states. Florida is considerably better off than some states -- most notably, California -- that must erase gaping budget deficits. This reality won't brighten the day of any education official in Florida, but it should help school leaders understand why there simply is no painless way out of a jam caused by the slumping economy and the loss of the temporary gift of federal stimulus money.
Gov. Rick Scott responded to Florida's $4 billion shortfall with a tough budget proposal that reduces funding in a variety of areas, including education, and requires state employees to contribute 5 percent of their salaries to the state pension system. Education officials understandably are worried about the governor's budget-cutting plan, which would add to the cumulative impact of state cuts imposed since the economy went south and the Florida housing market collapsed.
In Volusia County, the schools have trimmed $75 million from their budget since 2007 and cut staff by more than 15 percent. Superintendent Margaret Smith projects that the district will lose another $44 million and more than 900 jobs, if Scott's budget proposal is approved by lawmakers.
This looks like a worst-case scenario. The projected cuts could be offset to a significant extent by Scott's state pension reform plan. Scott believes the pension changes would save the state about $2.8 billion over two years -- enough to take some of the pressure off the education budget. It's unlikely Scott will get everything he's asking for on pensions, but lawmakers should shift some of the cost burden of state benefits from the taxpayers to the beneficiaries. Pension reform will help the children by freeing up money for education programs.
The Republican-controlled Legislature does not seem inclined to go as far as the GOP governor in cutting the education budget. That's good news for the children as well as school officials.
Scott wants to cut taxes by about $2 billion. His tax cuts are designed to stimulate economic growth and create jobs, but it's questionable whether the state should be reducing revenues now, in the midst of a serious budget crunch, for the sake of spurring growth down the road. The state's business tax system generally is considered business-friendly. Legislators may decide -- and should decide -- to wait another year before considering whether Scott's cuts actually would help lure new businesses to the state and help existing businesses expand.
If the Legislature adopts some money-saving pension reform ideas, takes a pass on the tax reductions and concentrates on cutting funding in areas less critical than education, the schools should emerge from the state budget process in decent shape. But with the loss of a pile of federal stimulus money and tax revenues still lagging, it's all but inevitable that the schools will endure another round of cutbacks.
The only other option for balancing the budget is raising taxes -- and that isn't a viable option at this time. Lawmakers won't impose tax hikes when businesses aren't creating enough jobs to significantly reduce high unemployment and consumers aren't spending enough money to lift the struggling economy.
So the schools almost certainly will have to deal with more cuts. Until the economy improves, lean budgets are inescapable -- in Florida and every other state. The argument in Florida is over the size of those cuts. We hope Gov. Scott and the budgeteers in the Legislature will redouble their efforts to reduce nonessential spending and spare classroom education from cuts that could do long-term damage.
http://www.news-journalonline.com/opinion/editorials/n-j-editorials/2011/03/06/the-debate-now-is-over-the-size-of-education-cuts.html
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