Sen. Ogden calls for major changes in school funding, Medicaid

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden, the new Senate president pro tempore, used his election to that post Tuesday to lay out to fellow senators some of their primary tasks in tackling a massive revenue shortfall that is expected to dominate this year's legislative session. Ogden said a solution to the bleak budget picture is within reach, but will require tough decisions in such areas as education and health care.

"We can get the job done. It will not be easy. It will not be painless. But we can do it," he said in addressing the Senate on the opening day of the 2011 session. Two specific areas mentioned by the Bryan Republican were public education funding and the state's Medicaid program for low income residents. "It is impossible to balance the budget without making cuts in (education and health and human services)," he said. "Our first job is to figure out how to save Medicaid. We've got to reform it." Ogden said he anticipates that because of the huge federal deficit, the federal match for state Medicaid programs will be trimmed, pushing more of the costs onto the states.

On public education, Ogden said lawmakers much tackle the current school finance system, which treats school districts differently based on provisions adopted in 2006 when the Legislature lowered school property taxes. To reduce property taxes, lawmakers adopted a new business tax that has failed to produce the revenue needed to offset the property tax cut. "If we don't fix the (business) tax, school property taxes will go up for sure," he said, noting that the so-called business margins tax is underperforming projections by about $2 billion a year. Ogden called for fixes to both the business tax and the school funding formula before lawmakers adopt a new budget. Earlier, Gov. Rick Perry voiced optimism that the budget shortfall can be bridged without an increase in taxes.

Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/01/sen-ogden-calls-for-major-chan.html

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