Allred for Idaho: A Governor for All

ALLRED CALLS OUT OTTER ON BUDGET ONCE AGAIN

August 26, 2010

New numbers once again show Otter cut schools unnecessarily

Keith Allred, candidate for Idaho governor, said new information about Idaho’s budget once again underscores one point: Idaho school kids shouldn’t have to pay the price for Butch Otter’s botched budget.

New data from the Idaho Division of Financial Management shows that the state is already ahead of recent revenue projections by $4.5 million. Idaho Chief Economist Mike Ferguson’s latest forecast shows that Idaho is in the midst of a modest recovery, and that the state will likely finish the 2011 fiscal year almost $80 million ahead of estimates developed by the Idaho Legislature. 

Allred said the new report shows that “the evidence is piling up: Idaho school kids are paying the price for Otter’s botched budget.”

 “In January, Otter told us that the 2011 fiscal year was going to be so bad that he had no choice but to cut funding to Idaho education,” Allred said. “I said then—and I’m saying now—that Otter got it wrong and that Idaho school kids would pay for it.”

 Allred said it’s time to ask Butch Otter a question: Why did he ignore the best available evidence and cut funding to Idaho schools?

 “Here’s the answer: Otter made a mistake,” Allred said. “Not only did he fail to make sense of the facts, but he demonstrated that he’s fundamentally out of line with Idaho priorities.

 “In flush times and in tough times, Idaho needs a governor who understands that the Idaho Constitution has it right: Our public schools are a top priority,” Allred said.

 “We could have kept them whole without raising taxes,” Allred said. “Instead, Otter cut.”

“Those cuts mean that even as the economy rebounds, Idaho school kids will fall behind,” Allred said. “We’re crippling our own ability to compete in a future that we knew would eventually look brighter. That’s no way to run a state.”

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Otter education governor Idaho