MnSCU faces budget cuts, tuition increases

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Cuts passed Monday by the state Legislature are forcing the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system to once again trim their budgets.Under the budget bill’s provisions, roughly $10.4 million will be cut from MnSCU in addition to the $50 million unalloted by Gov. Tim Pawlenty in 2009.This brings state funding down to 2006 levels, the minimum amount necessary to qualify for federal aid.The University of Minnesota received a $36 million cut in the legislation, on top of a $50 million unallotment. This brings the University to 2006 funding levels as well.The MnSCU cuts come despite systemwide enrollment increases of about 13 percent since 2006 and 35 percent since 2000.”We’re constantly being asked to do more with less,” Jennifer Weil, state chairwoman of the Minnesota State University Student Association, said.The reductions were part of a measure to reduce the state’s roughly $1 billion budget deficit, expected to increase to about $5.4 billion for the next budget period.”I’m not happy when I have to cut,” Senate Higher Education Committee chairwoman Sandra Pappas, DFL-St.Paul, said. “I don’t think we should be cutting higher education, but I have to be a responsible budget chair, and I have no alternative.”To deal with the reductions in funding, a wide variety of cuts are being implemented across the 32 colleges and universities that make up MnSCU, as well as tuition increases.The cuts will come in the form of reduced student services, layoffs, early retirements and program closures or reductions, among other measures.Rod Henry, president of the Inter Faculty Organization, a group of MnSCU staff, said program cuts would come from those with lower enrollment and higher costs. He also said liberal arts and humanities would be hard-hit.Henry likened cuts in these areas to a “bloodbath” nationwide.”Types of programs that are being cut or slated for suspension are things like Russian studies,” Henry said. “Russia, as far as I know, is still around and still is a player in the world scene.”Pappas said in some circumstances these cuts can be used to adapt to changing market trends.”It behooves MnSCU to have these two-year institutions that are nimble,” Pappas said.However, cuts aren’t confined to liberal arts or even to academics in general.At St. Continue Reading

Budget bill headed for governor’s desk

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A supplemental budget bill that would solve nearly one-third of the state’s projected deficit is on its way to Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s desk. The House voted 76-55 to pass the conference report on HF1671*/ SF3223, the first of three budget-balancing bills expected this session. Shortly thereafter, the Senate passed it 44-23. Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung said the governor intends to sign the bill. Sponsored by Rep. Lyndon Carlson, Sr. (DFL-Crystal) and Sen. Richard Cohen (DFL-St. Continue Reading

Finance takes center stage

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WIth the first deadline behind them, this week will see lawmakers turn more and more away from policy matters and toward financial items, specifically how to tackle the $1 billion deficit that remains for the current state budget cycle.In the House of Representatives this week, a vote could come as early as Monday on HF 2624, a bill from Rep. Jean Wagenius, DFL-Minneapolis, that spends the environment and natural resources trust fund dollars from Minnesota Lottery proceeds.House Taxes Committee Chairwoman Rep. Ann Lenczewski, DFL-Bloomington, on Monday will introduce her jobs bill, based around providing tax credits to small businesses who hire new employees.Rep. Tom Huntley, DFL-Duluth, on Tuesday will review in his Health Care and Human Services Finance Division HF 2614, the compromise that preserves the General Assistance Medical Care program this year and establishes an intensive care management program for enrollees going forward. Look for that bill to come to the floor for a vote this week if the compromise holds.The Senate on Monday is reviewing in the Taxes Committee SF 3223, a big omnibus budget bill from Sen. Richard Cohen, DFL-St. Paul, that makes cuts to higher education, environment and natural resources, energy, agriculture, veterans affairs, transportation, economic development, public safety, judiciary and state government financing to reduce the deficit.Expect that bill to come up for a vote before the Easter/Passover break set for the end of the month. And notice what items are missing from the bill — K-12 education and health and human services — more than 50 percent of the state’s budget.The GAMC fix from Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis, will also come to the Senate Finance Committee in the form of SF 460 on Monday, and could end up on the Senate floor before the end of the week.And of course, keep an eye out for Gov. Tim Pawlenty to sign or veto HF 2700, the bonding bill by midnight Monday.  A letter signed by 44 of 47 House Republicans urged Pawlenty to line-time veto all but $250 million of the $1 billion bill, and two others urged him to veto the entire thing. Minnesota Public Radio has links to the letters here and here. Continue Reading

On deck next week: Revenue forecast and veto showdown

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Next week will see fireworks in the House of Representatives and the final word on how bad Minnesota’s state budget situation is before lawmakers have to get to work fixing it.On Monday, House DFLers could attempt to override Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s veto of SF 2168, a bill the Legislature passed overwhelmingly that would have preserved public health insurance under the state’s General Assistance Medical Care program, which is set to expire on March 1 due to Pawlenty’s budget unallotments last year.The Senate voted this week to override Pawlenty’s veto, but House DFLers must find three Republicans to joint them in order to complete the override, and House Republican leaders have promised their caucus will stand with their governor.Pawlenty and legislative leaders are expected to negotiate over the weekend to find a compromise that would keep an estimated 33,000 of the poorest Minnesotans on the health insurance plan, at least for another year.In a press conference on Friday, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, said she would prefer a negotiated agreement, but if one did not materialize, the veto override effort could take place Monday.On Tuesday, Pawlenty’s budget gurus will release the state’s February economic forecast, which is the last piece of financial information lawmakers will have as they settle in to balance the state’s budget before they go home this spring.Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Tom Hanson and State Economist Tom Stinson will release the forecast at a press conference at the Capitol at 11:15 a.m. that will also be streamed live on the Senate Media Web site here.The previous official forecast from November put the state’s budget deficit for the current budget cycle ending next June at $1.2 billion, even after Pawlenty’s unilateral budget slashing, and there hasn’t been much evidence that things have gotten much better or worse since then for the state.The forecast will also give another hint as to how big the next two-year budget cycle’s deficit is going to be for the state. The November forecast predicted a $5.4 billion deficit, not counting inflation. Continue Reading

Government union members rally as Pawlenty touts layoffs

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February 17 – Members of AFSCME Council 5 plan to rally at the Capitol today in support of a state government budget solution that won’t mean the kind of painful layoffs Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s supplemental budget plan proposes for state and local government workers. 
The union, which represents city, school, county, state and some private sector workers, says its top priority is a budget solution that includes raising revenue by taxing the wealthy and corporations. That approach was explicitly ruled out in Pawlenty’s budget proposal, which actually seeks to cut corporate tax rates, while reducing state aid to cities and counties by $250 million,  cutting $181 million from state agencies, and cutting $47 million from higher educaiton to help balance a $1.2 billion deficit in the budget cycle that ends next June. Both those cuts would likely lead to layoffs of government employees across the state, a probability Pawlenty’s budget commissioner Tom Hanson acknowledged during legislative testimony on Tuesday. The union hopes to pack 1,100 members into the Capitol Rotunda at 12:30 p.m. today. The rally is one part of the group’s Day On The Hill, which concludes with a reception at the Crowne Plaza Riverfront in St. Continue Reading

FREE SPEECH ZONE | Advocates of Mentally Ill Fight to Keep Programs

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Governor Pawlenty submitted his supplementary budget Monday night, and advocates for the mentally ill found enormous cuts for programs that assisted the people they help.The Minnesota Mental Health Legislative Network and their supporters gathered Tuesday at noon at the Capitol with news that Governor Pawlenty’s budget called for $347 million in cuts to health services.  The bulk of these cuts are the proposed $250 million per year in cuts in aid to local governments.  Ed Eide of the Mental Health Assocation of Minnesota said that this translates to a dramatic cut in services for the mentally ill. Free Speech ZoneThe Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. This is an open forum for articles that otherwise might not find a place for publication, including news articles, opinion columns, announcements and even a few press releases.Much of the focus of the day’s advocacy centered around the GAMC and the current effort by the legislature to keep the program running beyond March 31, when it is scheduled to expire.Representative Larry Hosch (DFL- St. Joseph) criticized Gov. Pawlenty for making cuts to essential services.  “The Governor says that we should sit down and discuss the budget like a family,” Hosch said.  “But we don’t tell members of our family ‘you can’t sit with us, you’re too expensive.'”Senator John Marty (DFL-Roseville) said that a single-payer system has been introduced in the House and that it should become law.  Marty has promised such a system should he win the Governor’s race.  Continue Reading

CAPITOL REPORT | Busy Presidents’ Day for Minnesota legislature

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Presidents’ Day is a state holiday, but Minnesota lawmakers and Gov. Tim Pawlenty won’t be taking it easy on Monday.The House of Representatives is scheduled to debate and vote on their bonding bill, HF 2700, from Rep. Alice Hausman, DFL-St. Paul. The Senate passed their version last week, so this vote should move things into the negotiation stage, with Pawlenty threatening to veto the final bill if it’s too big and doesn’t have the things he likes in it, and House Republicans pledging to uphold that veto.Expect a long debate going into the evening, as state representatives have a reputation for leaving nothing unsaid when it comes to these things. Look for Republicans to take shots at particular items in the bonding bill they want to label “pork” and for DFLers to paint this bill as a “jobs bill” that will put people (construction union members mostly) back to work.Here’s the most recent spreadsheet showing what’s in each bill, and what Pawlenty wants.Pawlenty, meanwhile, will be releasing his supplemental 2010 state budget proposal, which will include his ideas for solving a $1.4 billion state budget deficit remaining in the current budget cycle, which ends in June 2011.Soon after, Pawlenty’s Commissioner of the Office of Minnesota Management and Budget, Tom Hanson, will release a February state revenue forecast that will show whether that $1.4 billion gap is expected to grow, shrink or stay about the same.State Economist Tom Stinson, who puts together those forecasts, suggested on Minnesota Public Radio recently it will stay about the same, but we’ll get another read from Pawlenty’s budget proposal.  Continue Reading

$6 billion-plus deficit on Minnesota’s horizon

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Did you think that Governor Pawlenty’s cuts made the state’s budget woes magically disappear? Think again. Minnesota’s projected budget deficit for the upcoming fiscal year (FY) 2012-13 biennium is projected to hit $6.4 billion. This huge deficit, which represents sixteen percent of projected FY 2012-13 general fund expenditures, is not the result of spending growth, but rather a decline in real per capita state revenue combined with Pawlenty’s unilateral decision to shift the state’s budget problems into the future as opposed to dealing with them responsibly in the present. Based on the official state general fund summary (PDF) which reflects the governor’s recent unilateral “executive actions” (which consists primarily of accounting shifts imposed through his unallotment authority), the state is projected to have a structural budget deficit of $4.4 billion for the FY 2012-13 biennium. Continue Reading

Minnesota communities: The biggest budget cutters

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A right-wing blogger gives Governor Pawlenty credit for halting “outrageous growth” in state government spending since 1960. As noted in yesterday’s article, the claims regarding excessive growth were overly simplistic at best. Similarly, the veneration of Tim Pawlenty as the bringer of frugality is also misplaced. There is no doubt that total state government revenue has shrunk during Pawlenty’s time as governor. The blogger understates the decline in state government during the Pawlenty years through use of an inappropriate inflation adjustment. Continue Reading

Pawlenty plays budget hardball in Minnesota

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he sky is not falling. That was the mantra from Gov. Tim Pawlenty one day after the legislative session ended with no resolution to a nearly $3 billion budget deficit. “The legislators are gone, and they’re not coming back,” he gleefully told reporters at the Capitol yesterday during a noon briefing. Which means the endgame is now in Pawlenty’s hands. He’s vowed not to call a special session or permit a government shutdown. Continue Reading