The Education Budget in Context: An Analysis of the Governor’s Proposed FY 10 Budget

This brief provides an analysis of Governor’s Fiscal Year 2010 budget proposals as they affect education programs. It also outlines recent trends in spending and state policy in this area over the last few years. The Governor’s FY10 proposal would decrease funding for the Department of Education by 2.4% from FY09 levels, reducing funds for priority school districts, school library book grants, and the early childhood advisory cabinet. The Governor’s budget would increase funding for Higher Education over FY09 levels, but fall short of “current services” funding by 8.6% (the current services budget is the amount required to provide the same level of services as in the current fiscal year). Financial aid funding would increase, though increases in financial aid have not kept pace with increases in the cost of higher education in recent years.