Letter: ‘Pay back the schools as quickly as we can’
March 19, 2012 at 7:00 pm in Worthington Daily Globe
With the recent news of a second consecutive budget surplus and unemployment numbers that continue to decline, it’s clear the decisions made last session have started to put Minnesota on the road to economic recovery.
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The State is still expected to have a budget shortfall for the 2014-2015 biennium of over $1 billion, not adjusted for inflation. Couple that with property tax recognition shifts and what we still owe the schools, the State has a structural deficit of over $4 billion dollars, again not adjusted for inflation. So, the “reforms” and “policies” haven’t really made a difference at all. We still need to look at both sides of the budget if we are going to break this cycle of budget shortfalls and special sessions.
I agree we need to get the schools paid back as soon as possible. But we also need to shore up reserves or we’ll just end up borrowing that money right back from the schools in the next biennium. Doing both at the same time, as the original plan outlined, makes sense to me.
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