Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Blackwell Education GRF Spending Figures Are Wrong
The Dayton Daily News and The Columbus Dispatch (see links below) have reported that Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has stated that he wants to increase the share of the state general revenue fund (GRF) going to education from 47 to 57 percent. Unfortunately Secretary Blackwell is wrong, K-12 spending will equal approximately 37 percent of the state GRF in the current state fiscal year -increasing it to 57 percent would require $3.8 billion in new spending.
According to final budget reports prepared by the Ohio Legislative Budget Office, primary and secondary education appropriations account for 19 percent of the all funds budget in state fiscal year 2007 or 27 percent of the GRF budget in 2007. Because Ohio includes federal Medicaid dollars in its GRF budget you typically back those funds out for a more accurate calculation of state only spending. Once that calculation has been made, primary and secondary education spending then accounts for approximately 37 percent of state only general revenue fund spending (this number could increase slightly if some smaller amounts of federal dollars that are also mixed in with state GRF spending were also backed out).
If primary and secondary education spending were increased to 57 percent of the state only general revenue fund, spending would need to increase by approximately $3.8 billion – representing a 54 percent increase in state only spending on K-12 education. The articles suggest that Secretary Blackwell would accommodate this increased education spending by redirecting $3.8 billion from the Medicaid budget to the K-12 budget.
Ohio’s Medicaid budget is a mix of state and federal dollars, and for every dollar that Ohio spends on Medicaid it receives $1.48 from the federal government. If Ohio cuts Medicaid spending, it then will also see a cut in its federal Medicaid aid. In short, in order for Ohio to save $1 in state Medicaid spending, it actually has to cut $2.48 to account for the lost federal aid. A spending reduction of $3.8 billion would require total Medicaid spending cuts of $9.6 billion – or 70 percent of Ohio combined state/federal Medicaid budget. Even if the Medicaid program eliminated every dollar spent on nursing homes, prescriptions drugs and hospitals and eliminated coverage for children you still wouldn’t reduce spending enough to free up the dollars required to increase state K-12 GRF spending.
Read more at:
http://www.daytondailynews.com/search/content/localnews/daily/081806campaign.html
http://dispatch.com/news/news.php?story=dispatch/2006/08/27/20060827-A1-06.html
If you want to learn more about the state spending and taxes an excellent resource is The Taft Record, What It Means for Ohio's Future written by noted state budget authority Richard Sheridan. You can findinformation at: http://www.communitysolutions.com/store/item.asp?ITEM_ID=1040&DEPARTMENT_ID=145
According to final budget reports prepared by the Ohio Legislative Budget Office, primary and secondary education appropriations account for 19 percent of the all funds budget in state fiscal year 2007 or 27 percent of the GRF budget in 2007. Because Ohio includes federal Medicaid dollars in its GRF budget you typically back those funds out for a more accurate calculation of state only spending. Once that calculation has been made, primary and secondary education spending then accounts for approximately 37 percent of state only general revenue fund spending (this number could increase slightly if some smaller amounts of federal dollars that are also mixed in with state GRF spending were also backed out).
If primary and secondary education spending were increased to 57 percent of the state only general revenue fund, spending would need to increase by approximately $3.8 billion – representing a 54 percent increase in state only spending on K-12 education. The articles suggest that Secretary Blackwell would accommodate this increased education spending by redirecting $3.8 billion from the Medicaid budget to the K-12 budget.
Ohio’s Medicaid budget is a mix of state and federal dollars, and for every dollar that Ohio spends on Medicaid it receives $1.48 from the federal government. If Ohio cuts Medicaid spending, it then will also see a cut in its federal Medicaid aid. In short, in order for Ohio to save $1 in state Medicaid spending, it actually has to cut $2.48 to account for the lost federal aid. A spending reduction of $3.8 billion would require total Medicaid spending cuts of $9.6 billion – or 70 percent of Ohio combined state/federal Medicaid budget. Even if the Medicaid program eliminated every dollar spent on nursing homes, prescriptions drugs and hospitals and eliminated coverage for children you still wouldn’t reduce spending enough to free up the dollars required to increase state K-12 GRF spending.
Read more at:
http://www.daytondailynews.com/search/content/localnews/daily/081806campaign.html
http://dispatch.com/news/news.php?story=dispatch/2006/08/27/20060827-A1-06.html
If you want to learn more about the state spending and taxes an excellent resource is The Taft Record, What It Means for Ohio's Future written by noted state budget authority Richard Sheridan. You can findinformation at: http://www.communitysolutions.com/store/item.asp?ITEM_ID=1040&DEPARTMENT_ID=145
