How much more should the states cut?

Over the next few days, the Obama administration is going to propose some financial help for the states. Congressional Republicans, who've adopted a tough-love attitude to the states that found their fiscal position rocked after Congress and federal regulators neglected to notice that Wall Street had gone totally berserk, are not happy about it. They want to see the states dig out of their holes by cutting spending further. But how much further?

Nearly all states are proposing to spend less money than they spent in 2008 (after inflation), even though the cost of providing services will be higher. Most state spending goes toward education and health care, and in the 2012 budget year, there will be more children in public schools, more students enrolled in public colleges and universities, and more Medicaid enrollees in 2012 than there were in 2008. But among 26 states which have released the necessary data, 21 states plan to spend less in 2012, after inflation, than they did in 2008, and only two ? Alaska and North Dakota ? expect to spend significantly more. Total proposed spending would be over 10 percent below 2008 inflation-adjusted levels.

That's from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' latest analysis of state fiscal plans. And that second sentence is an important one: When you say states should cut spending dramatically, you're saying they should cut funding for education and health-care services dramatically. And they -- or at least 22 of the 31 states that have released their plans for 2012 -- are:

-At least 13 states have proposed deep cuts in pre-kindergarten and/or K-12 spending. The governor of Mississippi proposes education spending that fails for the fourth year in a row to meet statutory requirements enacted to ensure adequate funding in all school districts. (The three previous years of underfunding have cost over 2,000 school employees their jobs.) The Texas budget proposal would eliminate pre-K funding for nearly 100,000 mostly at-risk children ? over 40 percent of the state?s pre-kindergarten students.

-At least 15 states have proposed deep cuts in health care. In Arizona, the governor?s budget would cut health care for 280,000 poor individuals. Washington?s governor proposes eliminating affordable health care for more than 60,000 low-income residents.

-At least 11 states have proposed major cuts in higher education. Arizona would cut state support for public universities by one-fifth; when combined with previous cuts, this would reduce per-student state funding 46 percent below pre-recession levels. California?s governor proposes to reduce funding for the state?s two university systems by $1 billion. For one of those two systems, the University of California system, the cuts would bring spending down to the fiscal year 1999 level ? when the system had 31 percent fewer students than it does today.

It bears repeating that one of the most dangerous things an economic downturn can do is reduce your potential for long-term economic growth. Deep cuts in education funding that lead to fewer kids getting quality pre-k and fewer students attending college are one mechanism through which that can happen.

Source: http://feeds.voices.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=e0d1c21eb3070f4cafca0b497a451160

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