What to do with windfall

Idaho educators feeling disoriented or underappreciated by historic budget cuts and other uncertainties got some great news Tuesday.

Gov. Butch Otter announced that the state's stronger-than-expected fiscal year showing means something of a windfall to public education: Almost $60 million. Funds were expected to be disbursed Tuesday.

In addition to helping close the gap in funding shortfalls for Idaho school districts, North Idaho College received just under $2 million in additional funds. Trustees for each of these entities will be able to spend the money as they see fit.

This infusion of unbudgeted dollars to public education is part of the last legislative session's efforts to comply with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Fed Jobs Act, which allocated federal funding to Idaho education programs.

More good news: The next phase of the state's grocery tax credit can now be funded to the tune of about $15 million. That's a bonus to qualified residents who will see some relief on next year's state income tax.

Gov. Otter and many legislators come under fire for their conservative approach to budgeting - criticism we believe unfair and unwise. While virtually everyone hoped for the best, nobody could guarantee state revenues would increase 7.95 percent over the prior fiscal year. And unfortunately, nobody can guarantee that trend will continue.

"I'm grateful for the revenue growth," Otter said. "But I still think that we're a long way from out of the woods. You need to remember that this is about half a billion dollars less than we had in my first year as governor."

We encourage state leaders to continue to focus on growing the state's economy and budgeting conservatively. Doing otherwise will inflate expectations and the sense of entitlement that's crippling so many other states.

We also encourage trustees to spend this extra money on critical, one-time expenses like textbooks, technology and infrastructure. Committing it to ongoing annual expenses only sets up educators for greater disappointment and disorientation again if, as Gov. Otter predicts, we aren't out of the woods just yet.