Paul Teske is dean of the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver.
Today’s Denver Post story about the Joint Budget Committee not approving more funding for school breakfasts for low income kids is emblematic of where we are with the state’s fiscal position. Cuts will be made, to education, higher education, and other areas, even though we know that many of the things being cut are important to achieving broader educational goals.
Parents have been told, repeatedly, by all forms of research and media, that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day for kids” – so that they can learn without being hungry. But, I guess we don’t want to pay the 30 cents for kids whose families can’t afford it –so it must not be that important. In our $250 billion gross state economy, we can’t find $124,000 to pay for 56,000 eligible children for the period from March–June 2011.
The Post article quotes JBC member Rep. Cheri Gerou, R-Evergreen: “I honestly felt like asking parents to spend 30 cents per meal was an appropriate vote,” Gerou said. “If we did not have a revenue shortfall, my vote would be different than it is. Nobody wants to charge children for those breakfasts, but we are where we are. We just don’t have any money.”
No, we don’t. We are where we are.
Mainly this is because we tax ourselves at the 48th lowest overall rate in America.
And, this is hardly the only impact of under-funding. At the higher ed level, research is strong and solid that student retention and eventual graduation are greatly enhanced if freshmen are taught by full-time faculty who have offices, with whom they can make a real connection – but, because of budget cuts, the vast majority of our Colorado higher ed first-year classes are now taught by “one-off” adjuncts or lecturers (many of whom are terrific teachers), who can’t fill that mentorship role.
More broadly, this illustrates the extreme disjuncture of Colorado’s services and revenues. While everyone agrees that they are out of balance, as Rep. Gerou notes, the only thing the legislature can do is to cut services. “The people” don’t get to vote this week on a new tax (which would be between 2 and 3 cents for each Coloradan) to pay for those kids’ breakfasts for the rest of the year.
This is true, even though there is polling out there that suggests that citizens would favor raising revenues before making more cuts to education services. And, in other states like Arizona and Illinois, voters and/or legislators are increasing taxes, sometimes a lot, to pay for critical services. But, in Colorado the legislature can’t raise revenues, and the soonest it could possibly be done by the people, with a ballot initiative, is next fall, well after fiscal 2012 cuts are already made by the legislature.
To demonstrate the disjuncture and asymmetry of our situation, imagine a hypothetical alternative: Say that homeless advocate Bruce Douglas gets petitions for a ballot initiative to require that the citizens vote on all cuts to state and local programs – where cuts are defined as decreases in spending on any specific program, when accounting for inflation and the number of service recipients. This might be called the “Citizens Bill of Rights” or CIBOR.
I would imagine that newspaper editorials and other forums would immediately condemn the irresponsibility and ridiculousness of CIBOR – “it would take representative government away from the elected legislators,” and “it would provide no flexibility in balancing an annual state or local budget.”
But, it is not clear to me how CIBOR would be any different from, or asymmetrical to, our current situation with TABOR – the legislature can and will only cut services (totaling $3-4 billion over the past 3 years), while the citizens, who might want to support some of those services, don’t get a say, unless someone launches a big ballot initiative, 9 months later.
Popularity: 37% [?]
You beat me to it Paul. I was just about to post about the cuts to breakfast for low income students.
I cannot help but wonder what the response would be if the state decided to cut gifted and talented funding to students, who mainly come from middle-income families.
Sign me up as a suppoter of CIBOR. And as a suppoter of raising taxes.
Gifted and Talented funding has already been cut both at the federal and state levels…students in Colorado with an Advanced Learning Plan get a whopping additional $137.00 PPR per YEAR to fund programs to meet their needs…most of that funding gets eaten up by testing (Cogat) to determine if they are Gifted and Talented.
Timely article from Ed Week:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/01/20/18breakfast.h30.html?tkn=SNPF3vffuDlUhQqP4J5RBSwZUi%2FKFo2RbluR&cmp=clp-ascd
Among other things it says:
Research indicates that eating a healthy breakfast increases alertness and can help academic performance. It can also help reduce obesity so that students aren’t overeating as a result of skipping a meal earlier in the day, according to school-breakfast proponents.
As I said on my Facebook wall just now, “Listen, I’m a budget hawk too, guys. But a hungry kid cannot learn. Instead of picking on kids, why not focus on bringing jobs to Colorado so parents can afford to feed them? Pick on someone your own size!”
http://facebook.com/andreafordpsboard
Thank you Paul addressing this. The issue has struck a real nerve across the state. My organization has recieved call from MAD folks all over the state. We have also heard from parents who would be impacted by this – and they are frantic. The fact to remember is that no new money was requested – rather the spending authority for money that had already been moved from the general fund to a cash fund. The real question for me: what other expense does the JBC want to sweep this fund for? What is more vital for our smallest citizens than breakfast?
I would like to learn more about TABOR and it’s role in Colorado, especially in education funding. From what I do know, it seems like a huge stumbling block. What would it take to repeal/erase it?
To get a first-hand sense of the retrictions that TABOR has on state spending, take the backseat budgeter for a spin. It allows you to get your hands “dirty” in the process of balancing the budget without violating the many restrictive revenue laws in place.
http://www.backseatbudgeter.com/budgets/colorado2010/default.aspx
More about TABOR here…
http://www.greateducation.org/2009/10/%E2%80%9Cit%E2%80%99s-not-just-about-money-it%E2%80%99s-about-our-investments%E2%80%9D/
It’s not only TABOR, but the Gallegher amendment as well…
I’m with you Paul. And while I hate to say it, there are some seriously challenged families. While $.30 seems like a small amount–it is not just the money. The administrative hoops of collecting that small amount of money for each kid will mean some kids go hungry. This small adminsitrative barrier will hurt the most vulnerable kids.
Fiscal times are tough – first breakfast is gone, the next thing you know they will cut school nurses – …. Oh Wait – that’s today Ed News feature story – way fewer school nurses, lots more students with health issues
Gwendolyn: For TABOR information, the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute has some great information
http://www.cclponline.org/fiscal_policy/page/state-tax-and-budget
and for the impact on school spending, Great Ed Colorado, a grassroots, nonpartisan group has lots of information on TABOR and school funding issues:
http://www.greateducation.org/statistics-faqs/funding-faqs/tabor-gallagher/
Yes budget’s are tight but school breakfasts should be among the very last things cut. Others have pointed out the value…if anything we should be spending more on lunch and breakfast so that kids have a healthy breakfast and not just one filled with calories.
And remember JBC REFUSED to take away Pinnacol’s tax exempt status on the same 3-3 split…Pinnacol is an organization that can afford $300,000.00 golf junkets for it’s board members, has shifted it’s employees’ pensions to the PERA system, and is sitting on a $500 MILLION DOLLAR RESERVE!!!…and kids are hungry in our classrooms!!!