State of the state budget is not strong

Gov. Sam Brownback declared Tuesday that “the state of our state is indeed strong.” That’s true in many ways – but not when it comes to the state budget.

As Brownback gently put it during his address from the House chamber, the state faces an “imbalance between state revenues and expenditures.”

Put more frankly, there’s a huge budget hole – more than $900 million over the next 18 months. And that’s just to get to zero. And it doesn’t account for a likely Kansas Supreme Court ruling that the state is inadequately funding K-12 public education.

The $1 billion – or more – question is how the state will address this shortfall.

Brownback declined last fall to institute any budget allotment cuts, and he did not provide any budget specifics during his address Tuesday.

Brownback said his administration would present a budget plan Wednesday that is “structurally balanced” and that “adequately supports the core functions of government.” He also said his proposal would include both spending cuts and “modest, targeted revenue measures.”

But he put the burden for solving the shortfall on lawmakers, encouraging them to pass a revised current-year budget by the end of this month.

Brownback also made no acknowledgment of the role his tax policies played in creating the shortfall. In fact, he continued to claim his tax exemption on pass-through business income has been a success – despite all the economic measures to the contrary.

But as Brownback noted, about a third of the Legislature is new this year. And most of the new members oppose the business tax exemption and some of his other tax policies. Many of the returning lawmakers, including some conservative Republicans, also have tired of waiting for the “shot of adrenaline” that Brownback promised in 2012.

Much of Brownback’s address focused on education. He noted that lawmakers face the difficult challenge of crafting a new school formula – a task made necessary after Brownback and GOP lawmakers unwisely scrapped the previous funding formula without first developing a replacement.

Brownback called for a new formula that “puts students first” and that measures success “not by dollars spent but by the achievements of our students.” He also called for more innovation, merit pay for teachers and more school choice.

Brownback said Kansans also deserve “access to an affordable college option,” and he challenged the state’s colleges and universities to “provide the opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree – in total – for $15,000 or less.” That might be a lot more doable if Brownback and the Legislature wouldn’t keep cutting higher-education funding.

If there were any hope that Brownback would listen to the public and the medical community and support an expansion of Medicaid, there wasn’t after his address. Brownback likened Medicaid expansion to “airlifting on the Titanic.”

As Brownback noted, the State of the State address can be a ritual conducted “just before the real battle begins.” That was certainly the case this year.

This story was originally published January 10, 2017 at 7:39 PM with the headline "State of the state budget is not strong."