If education is top priority, protect it

By Bill Ransdall

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- In his recent guest column, state Rep. Carl Bearden, chairman of the House Budget Committee, states, "Protecting elementary and secondary education is our state's highest priority."

Unfortunately, Bearden and Speaker Catherine Hanaway have chosen to protect education by appropriating funds that don't exist.

Bearden falsely accuses state budget professionals of what he calls "miserably inaccurate" revenue projections. In truth, the revenue projections provided by Gov. Bob Holden's office and agreed to by the Missouri Senate staff have been exceedingly accurate, especially in light of global economic conditions and the fact that every state is in a similar or worse situation than Missouri.

What is truly appalling is that Bearden and his colleagues chose to ignore budget analysis that even the Republican-controlled Senate agreed to work with. Instead of reaching a consensus figure with which all could work, Bearden and Hanaway chose to stand on the sidelines and criticize rather than participate in what Bearden himself refers to as "standard legislative practice."

The idea of agreeing to a consensus budget is not new. Former governor John Ashcroft set up this standard practice of getting projection agreements between the governor, House and Senate in an effort to move the budgeting process forward in a professional, non-partisan manner.

Under Hanaway and Bearden's leadership, this is the first year since Ashcroft initiated the consensus-revenue process that the House has refused to participate.

Bearden continues to argue the philosophical point that the state needs to "live within its means" and cut spending like a family would do in tough economic times.

There is no disagreement from Holden. He has cut more from state government than anyone in Missouri history -- more than $1.5 billion.

In fact, the Republican legislature has not had the political will to make the cuts necessary to live within its means and has instead passed the buck not once, but twice. The House sent a lump-sum budget to the Senate, leaving state representatives out of the process, and then legislators approved a budget that is $240 million out of balance.

In essence, the Republican-controlled legislature shirked its primary legislative duty.

While Holden has made every effort to streamline government to live within our means, he -- like most Missouri families -- also understands that when the roof begins leaking, it makes good sense to fix it.

Bill Randall of Waynesville, Mo., is the assistant minority floor leader in the Missouri House of Representatives.