Above is a graphic that represents Minnesota's current spending in its state budget. Almost 72% of the budget (which is about $38 billion) is consumed by K-12 Education and Health and Human Services. It is projected that Minnesota will have a deficit of $5 billion and it must be balanced.
If you would like to cut spending, the pie chart provides you the options you may cut money from.
In case you were wondering about raising taxes to balance the budget, here is a link that ranks Minnesota in terms of how much we currently are taxed by our state and local governments compared to other states. A 2nd link that compares Minnesota's income compared to our tax burden as well as similar data from the other states.
Feel free to comment on how you might choose to balance the budget or on any of the tax or income data. If your suggestions are great, please contact Governor Dayton (Dem) and the Republican-held state legislature as soon as possible.
Mr. Thompson
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ReplyDeleteI believe that when trying to create a balanced budget, lawmakers should consider how important education is to our country's future. If they choose to cut the states spending toward education, future generations will be negatively affected. This negative impact could spread into other aspects of our daily lives. I believe that keeping funding toward education should be a priority for Minnesota in the future
ReplyDeleteJessica Sands
Hr3
Lawmakers need to consider how much money it takes to have an education. School budgets have already been cut so much, and this limits the experiences, classes, and education for the students. Education is so important right now, and it will be more important in the future. If the spending for the states is cut, then students will lose all opportunities to excel in their education. The budget for schools should be increased because we don't want the budget cuts to negatively affect the future education plans. Minnesota and every other state should make funding for education key in all their budgets.
ReplyDeleteAmber Murrell
Hour 3
In my opinion, education is the most important thing and people need it to get anywhere in life. If school budgets were cut even more, students will lose classes that make them a "well-rounded student". With more budget cuts happening students don't get to learn the things the enjoy or are considering being their job, such as wood working, ceramics, art classes, band, science labs, and many more. It's obvious that some cuts have to be made, and Minnesota is currently the 9th highest tax payers. The money should be taken from each part, but education is a huge part of many people lives and is going to continue to grow, so i believe education should have the least amount of budget cuts. Minnesota and all the states need to realize how important education really is.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion, I agree with what others have said, in that education needs to be a key factor in how the state spends it's money. I feel that education is easily one of the most important things that we invest our money on. Is it wrong to take some of that money and put it to other uses? No, just as long as it doesnt take away or completetly affect the educational system. So keeping education as the top priority still needs to stay in place.
ReplyDeleteTessa Muehe
Hour 5
Keeping education as the first priority does need to stay in place. What should be next or included is the higher education. I don't think it would hurt too much to give some of the k-12 money to the higher education. It would make college expenses A little smaller, less student loans would be so high. A few more teens could maybe afford college and be able to have better futures.
ReplyDeleteSamantha Hertel
Hour 5
In response to the first comment by james, the talent show tickets are only a dollar, and if you do not wish to go, you don't have to buy a ticket. Also, the money does not go toward the school, the money goes towards the current sophomore grade's fund for their senior party. It is a fundraiser. Also, for plays and talent shows, the school barely puts out any money for support. And the reason we have to pay for activities is because the state doesn't give the schools enough money to pay for every activity, if not any of them.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion on balancing the budget would be to cut some money from debt services. Also to raise sales tax or income tax. On the chart, Minnesota wasn't too high and a small increase in either tax would raise a lot of money.
Sophie Hackman
Hour 3
Education is a big priority and should stay in its place. Education is important for everyone, if we were to cut money from education we would have to eliminate some classes that students might enjoy doing and looking into it for a career and if we take them away from that then it would be more difficult for them to choose a career right for them. Also, college education is really important too, because with college expenses the way they are right now its already expensive for an education.
ReplyDeleteZach Ewing
Hour 7
I agree with everyone in saying that education is very important right now and will only continue to be more and more important in the future years, but we can also adapt. The students and teachers of the Rochester School District have felt the effects of the immense budget cuts in our schools the past few years first-hand. For instance, when the JM marching band's field show was cut; we seniors were the last generation of bandies to experience a field show in our sophomore year. A lot of people - students and parents alike - were really upset at the initial news, but once we figured out an alternative way to enjoy band just as much, it was fine. Not to say that a bunch of money should be taken away from our schools because we would find a way to work around it, but we are really good at working with what we got.
ReplyDeleteLacey Brannick
Hour 1
I also agree that education is a priority because future balancing of the state budget rely on the current students doing well, getting jobs and remaining in Minnesota. I think these graphs are interesting because the cost of the state government is shown in the other section instead of being reflected as a single item in the large pie. I think they should look at refinancing debt and monitoring more for fraud in health costs.
ReplyDeleteJeff Thompson
Hour 5
I agree with what everyone else is saying about how importanat education is and that the schools need more money. Although I believe I also agree with what Lacey said about having to readjust to budget cuts. These past couple of years the Rochester schools have had budget cuts. Although the band program lost the field show Mr. Jarvis still found a way to make band as much fun as it was before. Even though it took some time to get use to the new program I ended up liking it. I do not think that the schools should lose anymore money, I'm just saying that if we were to lose more money the school would find a way to adjust and move on.
ReplyDeleteNicole Fabian
Hr. 3
One thing that really bugged me about this pie chart is that i think that health and human services should not be one of the biggest things being cut. Health and human services is one of if not the biggest thing in the world that helps children all over the world. Does this mean adoption shelters and foster homes' spending will be cut? Knowing that my house is a foster home and this is one of the biggest budgets being cut, it kind of makes me sad. I know that foster care and adoption are only small parts of health and human services, but spending should still not be cut.
ReplyDeletePat Windish
Hr. 3
I think that the way to balance the budget is to raise taxes. Even though Minnesota has high taxes compared to the other states, in also has a fairly high income. This high income would hopefully help balance the increase in taxes. This tax is necessary because education is one of the most important things a state can provide, and it would be a shame to cut its funding.
ReplyDeleteConner Holthaus
Hr. 7
Education must remain the top priority for the state because the children of today are the future of not only the state but the nation. However, there needs to be fiscal responsiblity by the state, teachers, parents and kids; as it is a shared responsibility. If there is limited to no expense that can be trimmed than the only option is to raise taxes. Levy and property tax increases could also help resolve the budget issue.
ReplyDeleteKristin Poe said...
ReplyDeleteEducation must remain the top priority for the state because the children of today are the future of not only the state but the nation. However, there needs to be fiscal responsiblity by the state, teachers, parents and kids; as it is a shared responsibility. If there is limited to no expense that can be trimmed than the only option is to raise taxes. Levy and property tax increases could also help resolve the budget issue.
Kristin Poe
I think the lawmakers should keep k-12 the top priorities because it helps our future of our nation they should just increase property taxes and increase other taxes to help cover the debt and increase state government taxes and that should hel0 with the debt.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, in order to fix the budget, Minnesota needs to raise its taxes. There is no department that should have priority to be cut. Money allocated to education, public safety, and health & human services has no room to be reduced. If anything, our schools need to have an increase in budget to eliminate our lack of school funding. Therefore, the only option would be to have a slight increase in taxes to regain the 5 billion dollar budget dilemma.
ReplyDeleteIf I were to change anything in Minnesota's budget, it would be to raise taxes. spending more pulls us more out of debt, and paying higher taxes get us there faster. Education is where it needs to be and i think it should stay like that. Education needs to be a top priority and valued more. China is kickin everyones but right now.
ReplyDelete