EOB: Lawmakers Hear Bleak News

Idaho’s state budget news is bleak, lawmakers heard as they gathered today for the interim meeting of the Legislature’s joint budget committee: One in five Idaho school districts has declared a financial emergency. State prisons are managing 500 more offenders than a year ago, with $28 million less in funding. Part-time state employees already hit with furloughs and other cutbacks will face sharp increases in their health insurance premiums. And Idaho’s Medicaid program could see a shortfall so extreme it’d have to eliminate 23 percent of the health benefits it provides to the state’s poor and disabled/ Betsy Russell , Eye On Boise. More here .

• Managing more prisoners with less money
• Part-time state workers face benefits cut
• Various fees, tuition could rise
• Might have to consider enrollment caps
• 1 in 5 Idaho school districts have declared emergency
• Stimulus has created nearly 500 jobs