by Senator Micheal Bergstrom
Well, it's no longer a secret. OMES has now told us in the legislature, and I am passing on to you, how it decides if lottery funds have been supplanted.They do the following:
1. A comparison of Legislative appropriations to education (common education, career tech, and higher education) from the previous fiscal year to that of the current fiscal year.
2. A comparison of overall Legislative appropriations from the previous fiscal year to that of the current fiscal year.
3. If this base funding for education appropriations was not reduced (other than for normal program adjustments or reductions for revenue shortfall) or was not reduced more than overall appropriations were reduced, then any funds provided by the Lottery Trust Fund would enhance education funding.
4. If the appropriated funding to education was reduced more than overall appropriations were reduced, then supplanting finding may occur by the Board of Equalization.
2. A comparison of overall Legislative appropriations from the previous fiscal year to that of the current fiscal year.
3. If this base funding for education appropriations was not reduced (other than for normal program adjustments or reductions for revenue shortfall) or was not reduced more than overall appropriations were reduced, then any funds provided by the Lottery Trust Fund would enhance education funding.
4. If the appropriated funding to education was reduced more than overall appropriations were reduced, then supplanting finding may occur by the Board of Equalization.
What that boils down to is that they took into consideration about $3.38 billion in state education spending, but decided to ignore about $72 million in state education spending.
I have looked over the Excel document with the line item breakdown, and I have to admit that I don't fully understand OMES' reasoning. Hopefully I will by the time we finish the 2019 budget. But at least we now have the formerly secret formula.
No comments:
Post a Comment