Gov. Christine Gregoire yesterday released a two-year state budget proposal aimed to improve public schools, increase enrollments in state colleges and universities, and expand state health-care services to 47,000 more children.
Gregoires $25.8 billion General Fund proposal relies on $1.4 billion in cuts, savings and fund shifts while raising an additional $203 million through limited tax increases necessary to fully fund Initiative 728 class size reductions, and to fully meet the projected demand for new enrollments in the state higher education system.
The governor said the state could get by without the revenue package, but concluded: Getting by is not good enough.
Gregoire said her budget gets us out of the rut that the national recession left us in. In government, theres a feeling that if we just hunker down and make do with the status quo, we can get by. Trouble is, the status quo kills you. You might think youre holding your own but youre not.
With this budget proposal, we move Washington forward. We do more than just get by because getting by isnt good enough.
INITIATIVE 728 RESTORED
To restore voter-approved Initiative 728, which was suspended by the Legislature during the past two years, and provide 6,600 more slots for students in higher education, the governor brought back just 39 percent of the $517 million in tax revenue lost to two state Supreme Court decisions in the weeks after she took office two months ago. The tax losses deepened an already severe budget shortfall amid growing demands for education, health care and social services.
The governor rejected general tax increases, which could hurt the states economic recovery.
Instead, she proposed to raise the state tax on a pack of cigarettes by 20 cents in the next biennium, raising $79.4 million. She partly restored the estate tax but only on assets valued at more than $2 million and made family farms exempt. This compares with a previous estate tax that did not exempt family farms, and that this year would have taxed estates valued at $900,000 or more. The new, softer estate tax raises $129.2 million.
CUTS AND SAVINGS
Nevertheless, the governors budget contains $1.4 billion in cuts, savings and fund shifts. Among them are reductions achieved by eliminating 1,000 middle-management positions, and using the states purchasing power to buy smarter.
The budget also limits cost-of-living increases for vendors to save $97 million, reduces employee benefit costs by $75 million, and reduces the cost of a cash-assistance program for unemployable adults by $18 million by tightening eligibility requirements.
Gregoire said her budget funds what I believe in: good schools, health care for more kids, and investments that make our economy stronger.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
There is no more important investment that we can make than investing in our public schools, Gregoire said.
The governor not only provided $11 billion to pay for basic education for 1 million students in our public schools, but also gave students a better chance to meet the states high graduation standards.
She restored both class-size Initiative 728 and teacher-pay Initiative 732 which were approved by voters in 2000 and then suspended during the past two years as the state cut spending by more than $4 billion to cope with the impacts of a national recession.
Restoring the initiatives at a cost of $277 million means teachers can give students more individual attention through class-size reduction and extended learning programs, according to the governor. It also means teachers and school staff will get the modest cost-of-living increases tied to the Seattle Consumer Price Index.
Also provided is $42 million to help struggling high school students catch up, and $50 million to offer better special education to students with disabilities.
HIGHER EDUCATION
The state already funds 216,500 students, but the governors $3 billion higher education budget includes $90 million to boost enrollment by 6,600 full-time students to meet rising demand.
Students also will contribute through higher tuitions, but their money will be used to improve the quality of faculty and programs rather than to prop up the basics, according to Gregoire. And lower-income students will see higher tuitions offset by $26.9 million in new financial aid grant funding.
HEALTH CARE
The budget also provides Medicaid health coverage to many more of Washingtons children, and makes sure thousands of struggling families continue to receive coverage through the states Basic Health Plan (BHP) for the working poor.
The governor increased the number of children receiving health care by 46,700 at a cost of $59.2 million, and ensuresd the BHPs 100,000 enrollments are maintained to keep 17,000 adults in the plan at a cost of $48.8 million.
The governors $4.6 billion health-care budget continues to cover the health care of nearly one in six Washington citizens, and reflects steps to reduce the cost of health care through smarter purchases of prescription drugs and other strategies.
JOBS
A $2.8 billion Capital Budget to meet higher education and other construction needs supports an average of 19,700 jobs both directly and indirectly related to the projects in the next biennium. Many of these are family wage jobs in the professional trades, offering pay of $30 to $40 an hour.
The governors budget also reflects her commitment to creating the Life Sciences Discovery Fund, which over 10 years will combine $350 million in tobacco-settlement funds with matching private and federal grants. This will generate $1 billion to keep Washington at the leading edge of the emerging biotechnology industry, which can create thousands of jobs in the next decade, according to Gregoire.
PUBLIC SAFETY
The governors $1.8 billion public-safety budget confines more than 17,000 inmates in prisons, supervises 26,000 offenders after they are released from prison, and funds the State Patrol to keep highways safe and help crime victims. The budget also helps communities prepare for emergencies like an earthquake, the threat of terrorism or forest fires made likely by current drought conditions.
Gregoire saves $36 million through careful policy changes that reduce the time that low-risk, non-violent offenders spend in prison. She also proposes an innovative approach to building a new prison in Franklin County. Rather than use up state bonding capacity needed for facilities such as college classrooms, she would contract with the private sector to construct the $270 million prison, paid off through lease payments.
NATURAL RESOURCES
The governors Capital Budget provides $75 million in parks-improvement projects across the state, and $318 million from the General Fund is combined with federal and other fund sources to protect Washingtons natural resources.
It also ensures that environmental protection policies allow reasonable uses, with timely processing of permits, so businesses and communities can thrive. And as the governor searches for solutions to improve water quality throughout Puget Sound, she directs $4.4 million in capital and $600,000 in operating funds to start reversing pollution that is killing aquatic life in Hood Canal.
SOCIAL SERVICES
The governors $4.3 billion social services budget supports Washingtons vulnerable citizens, providing institutional and community care for children, the disabled, seniors and veterans. Among new expenditures is $80 million in state dollars that fully will replace federal funding cuts to community mental-health clinics.
The governor also improves the way the state cares for vulnerable children, spending $13 million to make sure steps are taken to better detect abuse and neglect, and to rescue children from harm.
REDUCING BUREAUCRACY
Gregoires budget cuts middle management in state government by 1,000 positions, saving $50 million in total state funds, and relies on the SmartBuying program to save $50 million in total state funds. She also puts her Cabinet on notice that programs that dont get results will be eliminated, and her budget reflects her plan to take the guesswork out of deciding who gets results and who doesnt.
The Governors GMAP program to harness the right kind of data to measure a programs worth is well under way. For example, GMAP (Government Management Accountability and Performance) will reveal in almost real time exactly how well Child Protective Services is responding in child-abuse cases or how well the Department of Labor and Industries is getting injured workers into different jobs.
STATE EMPLOYEES
State employees have gone without cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for four years, while having to absorb rising health insurance costs and inflation. The governors $220 million salary package honors contract agreements the previous administration bargained in good faith with state-worker unions, and it provides other state employees the same cost-of-living adjustments and benefits. To the average employee, the 3.2 percent raise in the first year, combined with the 1.6 percent increase in the second, will be worth about $40 a week before taxes.
