Once again, we have a huge problem in this state. Our spending is soon going to far surpass our revenue intake – and this after DFL legislators increased our taxes an additional $10 billion two years ago. In just two short years, we have gone from an $18 billion budget surplus to a projected $6.2 billion deficit.
For a number of years, the legislature and governors have been adding program after program and new state mandates that are unsustainable. This was topped off with the recent out-of-control legislative spending spree over the last two years that created a myriad of new programs that have impacted both present and future spending.
Instead of fixing our education system to focus on making sure Minnesota students can read, write, and do math well, we have pushed an unimaginable number of overbearing mandates and responsibilities onto the plates of school districts and our already overworked teaching staff. Teachers and administrators are overwhelmed with all the state mandates that take away from their planning and classroom time – not to mention siphoning dollars away from classrooms.
Can you imagine the frustration of being a teacher in this situation who simply wants to teach kids but can’t adequately do that because of all the extra expectations?
Instead of addressing the lack of funding for the disabled, local ambulances, and nursing homes that are closing or forced to turn our elders in need away, we are spending hundreds of millions of state dollars to pay for benefits for illegal immigrants. Sadly, I guess grandma can just wait!
Instead of fixing loopholes and systems that, for years, have opened the door for the theft of an estimated $1 billion in tax dollars, DFL governors and legislators ignored the issue (calling the concerns “fairy dust!”) and continually blocked GOP efforts over the years to address the known problem. Hundreds of millions of dollars that should have gone to needy families to help pay for childcare, in-home care for the disabled and elderly, and programs to feed hungry kids disappeared into the pockets of thieves.
Much of this reminds me of my former first-grade classroom. One of the basic lessons for first graders is learning the difference between wants and needs. I can tell you that the legislature desperately requires this same lesson!
We have a pattern in this state of ignoring things that need to be fixed, and now our state is going broke. We have refused to set priorities and focus our efforts on core state responsibilities. It is imperative that both sides of the aisle face reality and start fixing these things.
With the looming deficit, my DFL colleagues have thus far refused to budge. They are insisting that the many burdensome and expensive mandates they passed into law over the last few years cannot be touched - not even when faced with the real and dire repercussions like schools going into Statutory Operating Debt or nursing homes and businesses closing. Why?
Why can’t we fix the “universal free school lunch” program to make available dollars for important education issues? My GOP colleagues and I offered a more than reasonable bill that would require families earning more than $150,000 a year to pay for their child’s meal and then use the freed-up dollars (about $120 million a year) to help improve teacher pensions and aid struggling schools. Should the state really be paying for families that are capable of feeding own children?
Why can’t we end spending taxpayer dollars for free healthcare and free college tuition for illegal immigrants when we currently cannot even adequately fund our nursing homes or ambulance services? Nursing homes are in dire need. The hard reality is that we do not have enough money to pay for illegal immigrant benefits even if we wanted to pay for them. We cannot even fund our core state responsibilities adequately.
We can no longer afford to just ignore the problems or nibble around their edges. If we do not face reality and start fixing, we are going to see more nursing homes close, more teachers cut, more tax dollars go out the door through fraud and waste, and the list goes on. Our state is headed toward a world of hurt. Must we really follow California down their own bottomless pit?
I have been watching this go on for far too long. It's time to stand up and say, “Stop!” We must face reality, stop kicking the can down the road, and start fixing things now.