State budgets are “recovering, but not recovered,” according to one analyst of state budgets, and while lawmakers are guardedly optimistic about more money flowing to schools, don’t expect a tide of money anytime soon.
That was the view of Arturo Perez, program director for fiscal affairs at the National Conference of State Legislatures, who studies state spending. There’s a lot of nervousness about the state of the economy, and states are coping with the drying up of federal stimulus funds.
I caught up with Perez at the NCSL’s annual legislative summit in San Antonio, Texas, where the condition of state budgets was a major theme.