Legislature fixing budget crisis Napolitano left

The decisions lawmakers made a couple of weeks ago with regard to the fiscal year 2009 budget fix were extremely difficult; and in many cases, just plain agonizing, especially with regard to reductions in education.

Knowing education is an investment in our children, lawmakers had very few options and had to make some very serious decisions with regard to not only education, but other state services as well. We made our decisions as responsibly as we could when faced with a looming $1.6 billion deficit that needed to be corrected for the fiscal year 2008-09 budget.

As you know, lawmakers are prohibited by law from deficit spending and the Arizona Constitution requires the Legislature to balance the state budget each fiscal year. Lawmakers had no other options and were forced to make education reductions.

For perspective, it is important to understand that K-12 education funding represents more than 40 percent of the state’s total General Fund budget. And although the Legislature enacted spending reductions in the current budget fix totaling $133 million for K-12 education, the reduction equates to about 3.2 percent of the total state funding provided to public schools.

Percentage reductions to other state functions in the current budget were far more severe and devastating. However, ultimate flexibility and local control were given to the public schools by lawmakers for implementing these reductions. To do that, the Legislature removed existing restrictions to empower school districts to manage their own funding priorities by allowing them to identify the most appropriate spending reductions. We were able to exempt school districts with less than 600 students from the budget reductions.

I believe it is extremely important for citizens to understand exactly how we got to where we are today with regard to the state’s budget crisis. The fiscal problems we are experiencing this year actually began with last year’s legislative session; and more to the point, correcting the 2008-09 budget would have been far less painful had the reductions begun two years ago when the first signs of the economic downturn began.

However, Gov. Janet Napolitano ignored the economic numbers and instead of implementing thoughtful reductions, instituted a series of accounting and borrowing schemes that delivered Arizona to the $1.6 billion budget deficit we dealt with in late January, leaving lawmakers to correct her financial mismanagement. As a result, this Legislature and lawmakers in general had very few options and had to make some very serious decisions.

It was incumbent upon the Legislature to fix the 2008-09 budget in a way that would immediately correct the deficit. The good news in this bad news story is that economic experts predict the state’s downturn will be over by the year’s end, followed by a slow recovery in 2010.

As lawmakers, we must be innovative in our approach to resuscitate the state’s economy to ensure Arizona emerges stronger and more economically vibrant. I pledge this Legislature will do our best to make sure Arizona remains financially strong as we tackle the 2009-10 budget.