State budget: Truth is in the numbers

Lately, some GOP candidates have been making sweeping statements that exaggerate and misrepresent state spending by the 2007 general and special sessions of the state legislature.

Facts are stubborn things.

For more than a decade leading up to 2004, GOP governors and unfettered GOP legislative majorities neglected K-12 school funding and mental health services, looked the other way as college tuition skyrocketed, ignored opportunities to leverage federal money to fund health care, and allowed our teacher retirement system to become insolvent and our corrections system to decline with no direction or clear management policies.

The 2005 and 2007 legislatures had no choice but to make significant investments in Montana's future to undo the neglect of the previous GOP administrations.

In 2005, Gov. Brian Schweitzer and the Democratically-controlled legislature began the process of overcoming the deficiency of state funding for K-12 education.

In 2007 with increased resources at their disposal, the legislature took on these neglected needs. General-fund spending did increase 24.9 percent (not the 28.4 some GOP candidates are claiming).

Where will the increases go? They are going to make up for the 12 years of neglect prior to 2004 — $180 million for K-12 education, continuing to play catch-up; $168 million for public health, caring for more children, offsetting reductions in federal funds, and providing mental health care; $105 million for corrections and the growth in inmate populations; and $60 million for the university system, allowing some relief from ever-escalating tuition increases.

Federal funds as a percentage of the total state budget declined from 45.5 percent to 42.9 percent.

If the feds continue to reduce their commitment to human services and health care, any money the legislature decides to provide to offset the reduction will come from the general fund.

The 2009 legislature will be confronted with more of these types of decisions.

It is easy to sit on the sidelines and criticize the current party in power. It is quite another challenge to honestly confront the difficult decisions facing us and learn to work together to find the solutions that will do the most good for the most Montanans.

Montana is on the move, and much of the progress is a direct result of the last two legislative sessions and the hard work of local legislators like Mike Jopek, Dan Weinberg and Doug Cordier. They deserve our thanks.

I will represent you fairly and honestly as your senator from the Whitefish and Columbia Falls region in Senate District 2, with a balanced budget as a priority.

I appreciate your support.

Gil Jordan, of Coram, is a candidate for Senate District 2.