On Wednesday, Idaho’s top economist, Mike Ferguson, announced that though his budget projections for fiscal year 2011 were off by $63 million, general fund for the state is likely to see about $80 million in additional revenue in the upcoming fiscal year.
The news has becoming a talking point for Democrat Keith Allred, running to unseat Gov. Butch Otter. Allred has repeatedly slammed Otter and legislative Republicans for low-balling the state’s budget for 2011, which sits at $2.29 billion for the year. Ferguson announced that Idaho’s take could likely be as much as $2.37 billion. Otter and Republicans decided to go with the current budget figure instead of a slightly higher number because they wanted to take a more conservative approach to budgeting.
Allred, a former college professor and mediator, said that Otter’s misguidance on the budget has led to suffering in the state’s public school system. ”In January, Otter told us that the 2011 fiscal year was going to be so bad that he had no choice but to cut funding to Idaho education,” Allred said. “I said then – and I’m saying now – that Otter got it wrong and that Idaho school kids would pay for it.”
During the 2010 legislative session, where the budget for this fiscal year was set, Allred would frequently show up at the Capitol in downtown Boise to deride what he called, Otter’s “irrational pessimism” on the budget. He has also said that the incumbent Republican is out-of-line with the Idaho Constitution, which requires the state to fund a thorough public education system. ”In flush times and in tough times, Idaho needs a governor who understands that the Idaho Constitution has it right: Our public schools are a top priority,” Allred said.
Otter fired back, saying that despite cuts, Idaho students are making progress in the education world. ”Recent reports show our students are outperforming the majority of the nation,” Otter in a prepared statement, referring to the Adequate Yearly Progress report issued by Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna earlier this month, which found that more schools in the state are meeting rigorous objectives in math, reading, and science. Those results, however, were released in August, only one month after the start of Fiscal Year 2011, and before schools opened their doors for the first time after sustaining a $128 million reduction in funds.
An aide for Otter’s re-election campaign noted that Ferguson’s forecasts have been incorrect in the past. “Wednesday’s adjustment from Mike Ferguson was another correction to his previous incorrect predictions,” said Ryan Panitz, spokesperson for Otter. ” So, if Otter would have listened to our opponent in January and just used Mr. Ferguson’s numbers, we would be more than $140M upside down at this point.” Otter’s original budget, presented in early January, called for $2.45 billion in spending. Legislative Republicans whittled down the proposal and settled on the $2.29 billion figure.
Otter continuously has poked at Allred’s lack of experience – the Democrat has never been elected to public office – and continued that Thursday. ”My opponent once again thinks that you can govern on theory when, in fact, it takes experience like mine to understand the full budgeting process,” said Otter. The incumbent also promised to restore funding to schools once tax collections make it possible.
One of the main lawmakers in charge of writing the state budget, Rep. Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, said it’s too early to say if revenues will differ from the target set by lawmakers. “When we were budgeting, we budgeted to a number that we thought was right,” she said. “I’ll stick with what we did and watch.” She also said she thinks it is unlikely the governor will impose spending reductions on state agencies, as he did last year. “There’s no reason that I can see that he would possibly do any more holdbacks at this point.”
Note: Brad Iverson-Long contributed to this post.
