Stanford Taylor statement on Joint Committee on Finance vote on 2021-23 biennial budget

“After the recent announcement of the state’s surplus, the Joint Committee on Finance came in woefully short on our state’s investment in education. There is no increase in local revenue limits, so schools will not have the ability to spend state dollars beyond what they had last year to continue basic operations and meet student needs. The increase for state General Aids simply changes the mix of state aid and local property taxes.

 

“As a state, we are failing to keep pace with the ever-growing needs of our students, which have been compounded by the pandemic. It is irresponsible to use one-time money designated for a pandemic response to meet ongoing needs, instead of a committed investment from the state, which our youth deserve. School communities cannot provide for our students’ recovery from the learning disruption and the pandemic that caused it if they have to use one-time federal funds meant to support that work to fund normal school operations. We are losing an opportunity to address learning needs at the expense of our students. This is not acceptable.”