Brighter Futures Begin with HOPE.

On Monday, Governor Barbour released a modified budget recommendation for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012. The table below shows how the Governor’s recommendation compares to the current House and Senate budget plans.

Click to enlarge

The Governor recommends increases for some budget categories (beyond his previous recommendation) and for some categories further reductions are prescribed. In total, the recommendation increases state support funds for FY 2012 by about $45 million and uses hundreds of millions of dollars in one-time funds similar to the budgets proposed by both the House and Senate.

Importantly, the recommendation includes higher levels of support for the Mississippi Department of Revenue that could be used to increase tax collections and critical support for the Mississippi Department of Human Services to meet the requirements of the Olivia Y settlement to keep children in foster care safe.

Unfortunately, the recommendation falls short on funding a number of key areas including education and mental health. While the school funding formula, Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP), is recommended to be funded at levels similar to the House and Senate, the Governor’s plan further strains education resources by calling for some of the MAEP funding to come from other education funds, including the supplies and instructional materials fund used by teachers. It also recommends cuts of $4.3 million, which would go to schools under conservatorships – money that could be used to turn around struggling school districts.

Additionally, the Executive Budget Recommendation calls for cuts to vocational education. Recommended Vocational Education cuts could drop funding levels below federal maintenance of effort requirements and could lead to the loss of millions of federal dollars for workforce training. It should be noted that none of the funding plans (Governor, House or Senate) fully fund MAEP. MAEP would still be over $200 million below full funding levels – the fourth year in a row that the formula was not fully funded.

The mental health budget recommendation remains $17 million below the House levels passed and underfunds community mental health centers. Resulting effects from underfunding the mental health budget include the reduction of beds available for people experiencing a mental illness and requiring treatment at the state hospital, a decrease in community-based mental health services and the possible closure of crisis centers in various parts of the state.

While the budget picture has improved incrementally, a significant component of the state support budget is funded with one-time funds.  The challenges facing the state underscore the need for a balanced and sustainable approach that includes raising revenue instead of a cuts-only approach.