If you’re sick of bad news about school budgets, you’d do well to stay away from a gloomy new school budget analysis from the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officials.
As reported by Education Week‘s Politics K-12 blog, state general fund spending has dropped each of the past two years, and the 2011 fiscal year looks like it will continue the trend. After 34 states cut K-12 spending in fiscal 2010, 33 states have proposed cutting K-12 spending in fiscal 2011.
“Fiscal 2010 presented the most difficult challenges for states’ financial management since the Great Depression, and fiscal 2011 is expected to present states with similar challenges,” the report says. “The severe national recession that most likely ended in the second half of calendar year 2009 has drastically reduced tax revenues from every revenue source.”
According to NASBO official, state lawmakers have been trying to protect K-12 education spending while making cuts elsewhere, but it’s getting harder for them hold the line.