Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Where I'll Be Tomorrow.

Literally, physically here. But around 9:00 I'll virtually visit the Ohio Office of Budget and Management because around 9:00 they are due to post the new "Blue Book" -- the budget Gov. Strickland is proposing to the General Assembly. Today's State of the State message was the warm-up. Tomorrow's Blue Book will be the *ahem* real test.

Strickland promised a hell of a lot today. He says he will expand health care coverage and the State's share of education spending while holding overall spending growth to the lowest rate in decades. Tomorrow we get to see how he will do it. We will see which two departments get cut, which nine are getting sub-inflation increases, and what the "reasonable budget increases" for the other seven look like. And we get the specifics on what loopholes are being cut and how.

So tomorrow will be a happy day for the bean counters. For myself, I will be digesting the education proposals to get information out to members of the group I contract with. Some version of that will no doubt end up in a post, probably in the afternoon or evening.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Before you have too big an orgasm over Ted's promise to push the state share of public education to 54%, look closely. He achieves 54% with an accounting trick.

What he wants to do is count property tax relief the state currently provides in with the money the state sends to schools. The 3% increase for public ed is pretty run of the mill based on recent years, actually less than many years.

I remember that the legislature tried to do this before. They tried to say that the tax relief they gave homeowners and businesses should count toward their contribution to schools. The court said no.

So if it was bs then, I fully expect you and the school groups to call it bs now (even though it's being proposed by a governor you want to like.)

Scott Piepho said...

I figured that was partially the case when Ted said he was changing the accounting and that he was raising the state contribution. And yes, it's deceptive. Give him points for putting both facts out there, but take the points away for the attempted slight of hand.

Comparing political rhetoric to arguments before the court is apples and oranges. The court was looking at whether the system was actually thorough and efficient, not whether the state was contributing some arbitrary fair share.

Trust me, the ed groups aren't going to be doing handsprings over this budget. We all understand the box Ted is in, but some will be more understanding than others.

As far as your snotty tone goes, bite me.

Anonymous said...

What box? He's governor. If he thinks more revenue is needed to do what he wants for schools, let's have his tax increase proposal. He's the leader. Lead.

Scott Piepho said...

Don't be a simp. Of course he can't just raise taxes. The Repubs wouldn't let him do it and would cut him to pieces for trying. Being a "leader" when you are, say, a General is different than being a Democratically elected leader and you know it.

You were salivating for him to propose huge tax increases like Blackwell's campaign promised he would. Instead, Strickland has proposed a responsible budget and the right is scrambling to find things to bitch about. This "not a leader" cant is particularly rich coming from the party of Taft.