October 05, 2009 10:39 PM UTC

Colorado Budget & Amendment 23: 2010 cuts, 2011 budget and education speding in general

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• by: MADCO

Joe Hanel of the Durango Herald’s Denver Bureau wrote what I would call a crazy article for mischaracterizing Amendment 23 and it’s impact on education funding.  And two Denver metro legislators bite into his frame- thus proving they are idiots who don’t get it, or they get it but want that frame out there.

If this year’s formula includes a large deflation rate, funding actually could drop by about $30 per student. It adds up to a real cut of more than $20 million when multiplied by the state’s 780,000 or so students. Other factors in the state’s complicated school finance formula could make the cut even bigger.

Joe Hamel, Durango Herald, Oct 4

http://durangoherald.com/secti…

His article implies that Amendment 23 has “locked” state funding for K-12 education to the funding from the prior year, + inflation +1%.

The closest he comes to making an overt statement of the impact of A23 is to say

Legislators and school advocates are trying to figure out how deflation affects Amendment 23.”

He’s crazy.

1) the A23 formula makes no reference to the possibility that inflation could be a negative number.  IF inflation in the relevant time period is -1.00%,   then  then it’s minus 1% in the formula.  

2) The formula is actually slightly more complicated than he implies. It starts with funding in the prior year, adjusts that for population change and then adjusts for inflation +1%.  And the 1% goes away after the 2011 budget.  And, the formula uses budgeting “factors” – and those factors can be adjusted so that that the net effect is spending cut no matter what the population/inflation/1% formula produced.  ANd that was already expected for next year’s budget.

3)  Nothing in Amendment 23 limits state K-12 spending to anything.  A23 sets a floor, not a ceiling.

And now for Denver metro legislators jumping into the crazy

Chris Romer

“I think inflation is inflation. Just because it’s positive or negative doesn’t change the nature of the beast,” said Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver.  Romer thinks it’s important school executives understand the Amendment 23 bump they’re used to getting “isn’t going to happen.”

Really,  Sen Romer?  A23 is forcing you to cut education spending?  No it isn’t.  For the reasons described above- A23 is  floor, not a ceiling.  If the floor produces a net negative to budgeting and you want the funding to remain the same- you could do it.  Now, you may think cutting K-12 budgets may be prudent in the current budget environment, but don’t say A23 forces cuts.

“Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, agreed. “”That makes sense to me. I hate for schools to take that hit, but on the other hand, with the fiscal issues the way they are … the public schools have to take their share of the hit just like the rest of the departments.””

If you “hate for schools to take the hit”- fight it. Don’t make a fake A23 argument that cuts are mandated, step up and say you think cuts are warranted or prudent and vote for them.

And the real problem with this bullshit frame is that it attributes power to A23 that A23 never had.  The bs frame says that funding is capped by A23, it’s not, it’s floored.  It says legislators have no control over K-12 education funding- they do. It says that the only way K-12 funding could be cut with A23 is with deflation- it can also be cut by adjusting the factors.

I want legislators who are accountable for their votes and what they do when they are legislating.  A23 doesn’t destroy that – even in 2010 and 2011.