The continuation budget includes a quarter billion dollar increase in recurring spending on K-12 education.
Nevertheless, left-wing pundits continue to claim that the level of public school funding in this year’s budget will be devastating, ruinous, disastrous, catastrophic, calamitous, cataclysmic, harmful, damaging, detrimental, deleterious, injurious, crippling, dangerous, baleful, destructive, bad, evil, malignant, malevolent, and pernicious. Why?
The significant increase in state funding may not cover the entire loss of dollars from the expiration of the federal Education Jobs Fund (Edujobs), a $10 billion bailout for Big Education.
Obama administration officials were not concerned about the condition of state budgets after the Edujobs money ran out. Recall that in August 10, 2010 conference call, Associated Press reporter Donna Blankenship asked Secretary of Education Arne Duncan about subsequent school years. His answer?
Well, we’re focused right now Donna on this school year… And, we really wanted to avoid a huge catastrophe this year. As you know, the economy is slowly starting to bounce back, and we’re hopeful we’ll be in a much better spot next year. But right now as you know Donna, we just felt this huge sense of urgency.
That “huge sense of urgency” produced big holes in many state budgets over the last two years – holes that, according to Duncan, states would fill by increasing revenue from an economy that was supposedly “starting to bounce back.”
Obviously, Duncan was wrong. The economy did not “bounce back.” Yet, the General Assembly found a way to add $250 million in recurring funds to the public education budget and did so without raising taxes.
