Amundson Supports Responsible Budget

It is much the fashion these days for corporations and organizations to develop "mission statements" to spell out their core values. To my way of thinking, however, there is only one statement of priorities that really matters: the organization’s budget. Seeing where money is and isn’t spent says more about the values of any organization than any fine-sounding rhetoric.

This weekend, the budget writing committees for the House and the Senate released their proposed budgets. With an immediate budget shortfall of $1.3 billion and a looming $2.5 billion gap through mid-2004, we were prepared for budgets that made painful choices.

We were right. One Senator described the choices outlined in this budget as "gut-wrenching." There are cuts in every area of state spending.

But the House budget is particularly problematic. First, it seems to rely on the same short-term gimmicks that got us into the budget mess in the first place.

For example, the House budget includes $103 million for a 2.75 percent pay raise for state employees, to take effect in December 2003. Yet a closer look shows that our teachers, sheriffs, and other state employees are actually funding the raise themselves, the House budget actually raids the Virginia Retirement System by $140 million to pay for the raise. This is robbing Peter to pay Peter!

Even worse, the House budget makes unacceptable cuts in public education, public safety, and economic development. The House budget as proposed:

• Cuts $286 million from public education. This includes eliminates $21.9 million that had been dedicated to dropout prevention. It cuts $35 million from the state's commitment to providing materials and training to teachers so the Standards of Learning can be achieved. We cannot expect our students to pass the SOLs if our teachers are not adequately trained.
• Eliminates funding for school construction. With thousands of school children going to school in trailers every day, and with thousands more in classrooms that don't meet basic standards, the House budget cuts the entire $55 million that Governor Warner had proposed for school construction.
• Cuts $300 million from higher education, then "allows" state universities to raise tuition just to stay even. But George Mason University president Alan Merten has already pointed out that even a 10 percent increase in tuition would produce only about $5 million a year – yet the school will be asked to absorb nearly $30 million in cuts.
• Reduces spending for public safety. The House budget cuts $31 million from the funds used by local governments to put extra police officers on the streets.
• Reduces anti-terrorism programs. The Senate budget includes nearly $100 million more for anti-terrorism than the House plan.
• Cuts $70 million from programs addressing mental health/mental retardation.

As I write this, we have had less than 24 hours to begin to examine the House budget. Clearly, however, I am troubled by the priorities of the House budget. The values we share – a strong public education system, public safety, and support for our most vulnerable citizens – are given short shrift. We will have opportunities to amend the budget on the floor, although those typically do not meet with success. We can also hope that the Senate budget, the conference committee, and the Governor can make some changes to the budget so that it better addresses the real needs of our Commonwealth.