Not good for us . . .

The deepening budget problem has resulted in the Governor calling for an unprecedented special session in late November.  Normally, the legislators would wait until the regular session and begin with a supplemental budget process as they did last year when cuts were made at that time.  This is not good for us for many reasons.  I have shared many times how difficult it is to cut once a budget has been adopted and now this will happen two years in a row.  We have also been "trimming" our budget for the last three years so the "fat" has been pretty much lost.  I understand and have empathy for our elected officials because they are in a similar position. 

This does not, however, remove them form the need to provide us with an adequate and stable funding base.  Something must change so that we do not go through the painful process of developing a balanced budget and then find within the first month that there will be less state revenue than what the budget was built upon.  Even more troublesome is that they then decide we should go three months into the budget year before they can tell us how much less revenue we will have. 

One additional reason for concern is the timing.  They are waiting until November for the next revenue forecast.  That makes sense for them, but for us it is a problem because we must certify our levy collection that month.  If we knew the cut by then we might have the capacity to offset some of it through this process.  Waiting until the end of November, if they even get done by then, eliminates this important option for us and for many others school districts.

In this Seattle Times article we learn that cutting at the state level is also much more difficult.  According to the Governor, they have fewer options.

Gregoire contends that nearly two-thirds of the budget is essentially off-limits to cuts because of federal mandates and state constitutional restrictions. The biggest components are basic education, Medicaid, pensions and state debt.

That means the $2 billion in cuts must come from the remaining $8.7 billion of the budget that is unprotected by the constitution or federal law, the governor said. "That is, bottom line, a 23 percent cut," she said.

. . . "We're going to have to admit there are things we simply as a state can no longer do," she said.

The ranking Republican on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, however, has a different opinion.

Zarelli disagreed that any part of the budget is off-limits. For example, he said, the state could choose to stop certain services even if it meant losing federal matching dollars.

"A lot of times we simply do things because there is a 50 percent federal share. We still have state money in there. If that's not a high priority lets look at it from the perspective of what could you do with that money," he said.

I think this might be a long session or the leadership will cut a deal and get it approved and out so that they will be ready for the regular session where they can begin the process all over again.