State Budget Cuts Will Hurt, But Philanthropy Can Help, McCown Says - Leader November 2011

The 82nd Legislature ended in June, but the effects of its budget cuts could hurt Texans for years, said F. Scott McCown, executive director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin. Lawmakers slashed public education funding by $4 billion and took more than $1 billion from higher education, he said. The Department of Family and Protective Services lost 64 percent of its funding for child abuse and neglect prevention programs.

Mr. McCown spent an afternoon in Dallas last month talking to donors and executives from several foundations. He also met with The Dallas Foundation’s board of governors and Safety Net Fund Advisory Committee members. Dallas Foundation officials had invited Mr. McCown to Dallas to discuss the state budget cuts and how philanthropy could lessen their local impact.

The cuts come at a particularly critical time, he noted. The 2010 census showed that Texas accounted for half the increase in the nation’s child population in the previous decade. During that time, Texas added almost 1 million children to its population. But one-quarter of the state’s 6.9 million children live in poverty, he noted.

The state’s 2012-2013 budget contained no money to keep up with population growth, Mr. McCown said. In fact, it cuts services to 15 percent below their 2011 level. The second year of the biennial budget will require school districts and other agencies to cut even more than they did for 2012.

Private philanthropy can’t replace the billions of dollars cut from public education, he said. Instead, he encouraged donors and foundations to find smaller programs where their money could make a significant difference.

The underlying problem, Mr. McCown said, is that Texas simply doesn’t collect enough revenue to pay for the programs its residents need. Unless the next Legislature is willing to restructure the state’s tax code and find new sources of revenue, the long-term outlook is bleak.

“Next time, it’s going to be every bit as difficult as it was this time,” he said.

For a copy of Mr. McCown’s presentation, please email lsmith@dallasfoundation.org.