Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008

State political leaders ready to cut back

Lawmakers returning to deal with budget

The General Assembly will return to Columbia on Monday to close the more than $250 million hole in the state budget that has state agencies considering job cuts, reduced services and four-day school weeks.

Anticipating state revenues could decline further, House and Senate leaders said they would cut more from the budget than required.

Key Senate budget writers will meet today. The full House budget committee will meet Friday.

Midyear budget cuts became necessary after state economists said last week revenue estimates would fall more than $550 million short of original expectations.

“The plan will make targeted cuts to agencies while protecting the funding for some of the most critical areas of government,” House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, and Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, said in a joint statement.

“Our budget plan will go an additional percentage point and addresses a 7 percent reduction in spending to better secure this budget and future budgets.”

Gov. Mark Sanford sent lawmakers a list of roughly $321 million in recommended cuts and savings that state agencies compiled. Under the worst scenarios, state agencies could cut hundreds of jobs, reduce or eliminate programs to maintain clean water or treat autism and eliminate weekend office hours at the DMV.

Sanford called the legislative plans “meaningful” and said leaders were wise — given the state of the national economy — to prepare for revenues to fall further.

At a budget hearing Tuesday, cabinet agencies argued that lawmakers should keep in mind which programs are most cost-effective. They noted, for instance, that tourism advertising generates more revenue than a similarly priced tax credit for movie producers.

Tuesday, the state Department of Education asked lawmakers to suspend rules limiting how local school districts can spend money, allowing them more flexibility to cut their budgets.

Facing more than $240 million in budget cuts, State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex is asking lawmakers to free schools from state rules and open the door for four-day school weeks, a temporary halt in some statewide student testing and elimination of underfunded school programs.

After meeting with educators, parents and community leaders, Rex made a series of recommendations on how to handle anticipated state cuts. They include:

• Eliminating the state requirement that schools hold class 180 days each year. Some districts may choose four-day school weeks with longer school days. The result could be a 20 percent savings on $300,000 daily fuel costs, Rex said.

• Temporarily halting statewide student testing not required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The state could save between $2.5 million and $3 million in scoring costs, Rex said.

• Allowing districts to eliminate underfunded programs required by the state. An example is a character education course funded with $250,000 in state money annually.

In addition to more than $140 million anticipated in midyear general fund cuts, public schools are also dealing with a $100 million reduction in state sales tax projections.

Staff writer Gina Smith contributed to this report. Reach O’Connor at (803) 771-8358.