Barbour unveils state budget: Legislature will have final say

BYLINE: Geoff Pender, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.

Nov. 15--JACKSON -- Gov. Haley Barbour on Tuesday unveiled his $5.4 billion state spending proposal for next year, calling it "a conservative, genuinely balanced budget that does not dip into the rainy day fund... and does not raise anybody's taxes."

Barbour also did a little chest-thumping on his fiscal record as he released his fourth and final budget proposal of his first term in office.

"When I ran for governor, there was a $720 million budget hole," Barbour said. "That means we had spent $720 million more on recurring expenses than we took in. This budget (for next year) will be the second in a row with a budget surplus."

Barbour, in his first three proposed budgets -- much of which he convinced lawmakers to pass -- faced the wrath of the powerful K-12 education lobby, primarily over the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. MAEP is an education funding formula adopted by the Legislature in 1997, but only fully funded one time since, in 2003.

In his new proposal, Barbour includes a $159 million increase for K-12 spending, roughly the amount education officials say is needed to fully fund MAEP. But Barbour's proposal only spends $65 million on MAEP, which he has called "an artificial formula."

Barbour's new proposal might not draw as much fire from teachers as it includes a 3 percent teacher pay raise, which will cost $33 million. This would bring the average teacher's salary to $43,000 a year.

Beverly Brahan, president of Mississippi Association of Educators and one of the most vocal proponents of MAEP funding, said a pay raise is fine, but it needs to be coupled with fully funding the formula.

"It's great to have a teacher pay raise," Brahan said. "However, it doesn't need to come at the expense of what's best for our children. We need small class sizes and up-to-date technology in the classrooms. That's what MAEP provides."

State Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Dowdy blasted Barbour's budget.

"When will Gov. Barbour realize that the MAEP must be fully funded if we're going to ensure our children -- Mississippi's future generations -- receive the best possible education?"

Barbour has spent much of his first term in office defending his K-12 spending record. But as re-election year draws near, he has gone on the offensive. During numerous recent public speeches, including one Tuesday, he has pointed out that K-12 education spending under his watch has increased so far by $323 million, or 19 percent. If his new education budget is adopted, he said, the increase for his first term would be "the largest increase in state spending for K-12 public schools during any four-year term of any Mississippi governor."

The Legislature will have the final say on a budget during its regular session, which begins in January.

The Joint Legislative Budget Committee, which has been meeting in recent weeks, has failed to reach an agreement on its proposed budget for next year, a first in recent years. Lawmakers on the committee are at odds over MAEP funding.

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Budget highlights

Gov. Haley Barbour's proposed $5.4-billion budget for next year, which he released on Tuesday, has:

--No tax increase. It does not include a tax increase on cigarettes, coupled with a reduction in grocery taxes, that Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck and House Speaker Billy McCoy plan to push again next year over Barbour's objections.

--A spending increase of more than 7 percent over the current year.

--An extra $443 million to spend, as revenues have outpaced projections.

--A $159-million increase in K-12 education spending, although Barbour's plan would not use the money to fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program next year, as some lawmakers and educators want. Overall, education spending in Barbour's proposal amounts to 62.4 percent of the budget.

--A 3 percent raise for teachers.

--A pay raise for all state employees of $1,000 or to the level a study will recommend, whichever is higher.

--A section noting that something must be done to help resolve the Coast insurance crisis and retooling the wind pool program. Barbour said he is working with HUD to secure additional federal assistance for the wind pool, but also said, "without structural reforms, these subsidies will make the long-term challenge more difficult statewide."

--Setting aside 2 percent of state revenues for the "rainy day fund." The Legislature is supposed to, per a law it passed, set aside this money for emergencies, but often hasn't in recent years.

--Spending the $20 million a year that had been going to the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi, a private nonprofit created by former Attorney General Mike Moore after Mississippi won its large settlement against Big Tobacco. A lower court has ruled in Barbour's favor that the money belongs to the state, not the nonprofit. But the case is expected to be fought to the Supreme Court.

--A $5 million increase in Bureau of Narcotics funding, to increase the number of officers by 50 percent.

--$16.5 million more in Department of Human Services for hiring more workers for the state's troubled child foster care program.

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