Posted on: Friday, March 4, 2005
House panel shuffles funds to increase education money
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
Shifting of funding in the state's biennial budget will allow more money for education and anti-ice programs, under a draft approved by the House Finance Committee yesterday.
The proposal for the two-year general fund budget stands at $8.96 billion — a slight increase from the $8.93 billion submitted by Gov. Linda Lingle.
The new draft adds $54.3 million to the Department of Education budget and restores $14.3 million for anti-ice programs deleted by the administration. House Finance Chairman Dwight Takamine, D-1st (N. Hilo, Hamakua, N. Kohala), said the governor's budget left several "pukas" in those areas.
What's not in the draft is legislation to provide tax relief for residents. The Council on Revenues, which makes the revenue projections on which the state bases its budget decisions, meets Tuesday. Any chance for tax relief will hinge on whether the group will provide a rosier forecast, Takamine said.
The education additions include $17.6 million for special-education teachers, $9 million for food services, $5.7 million for student transportation and $5.3 million for autism services. The anti-ice funding includes $8 million for adult treatment services, nearly $4 million for substance-abuse treatment services at the middle and high school levels, and $2.5 million for county anti-drug programs.
By not including Lingle's plan to raise the standard deduction and provide food and medical tax credits for lower-income families, the committee had about $48 million to reallocate. The committee cut $20 million that Lingle tapped for scholarships at the University of Hawai'i. The committee also saved $6.6 million in general funds by eliminating about 110 vacant positions that had not been filled since the end of 2003. It also made 1 percent cuts in discretionary funding at some agencies that saved another $6 million.
From the capital improvements budget, the committee deleted $95 million earmarked for a new Family Court building in Kapolei.
