Sue Lani Madsen: Writing a state budget is like writing a family budget – if your family procrastinates and bickers

It’s budget time again for the state of Washington. The first deadline in the process is Sept. 16, but you wouldn’t know it by how often in recent years the Legislature has worked late into the spring trying to hammer out a budget plan in special sessions.

If the process starts so early, how come they’re never done on time?

Three answers: Process, politics and procrastination.

The process is precisely laid out, with the governor’s budget due to the Legislature in early December. It’s a logical timeline for a legislative session that starts in January, but it totally ignores the reality of elections. The foundation work for the budget occurs at the same time as the governor, all members of the House of Representatives and half of the state Senate are up for a vote.

Politicians are fond of comparing the state spending plan to a family budget developed around the kitchen table. Budgets reflect priorities and require time for discussion. But the state’s timeline inevitably produces procrastination, as everyone waits to see who voters send to the table.

So what are typical voter priorities? I asked my social media network to sit around a virtual kitchen table and weigh in with their least favorite and most favorite state spending.

Least favorite included football coaches, sports at all levels, private prisons, endangered animal studies, attempts to thwart global warming, tax breaks for big corporations, and “anything that resembles a cash furnace.” Nobody likes to waste money.

Two categories were mentioned multiple times both positively and negatively. Schools were cited as least favorite, while education was listed an equal number of times as most favorite. That subtle difference in wording sums up the biggest challenge facing the Legislature, even without the Washington Supreme Court’s McCleary decision. Everyone agrees basic education is the paramount duty of the state. The disagreement is over how education translates into schools.

The biggest complaints about schools are the complexity of regulations and layers of administration above the level of principal. Dedicated teachers are frustrated when regulations get in the way of doing their jobs well. Parents are frustrated when they feel excluded from meaningful input. Taxpayers are frustrated when they see layers of highly paid administrators growing at a faster rate than numbers of students while average spending per pupil exceeds most private school tuition.

Ironically, it’s the complexity itself that drives up the cost of administration. Somebody has to participate in the mandated state task forces, report the required data, track grant funds and the strings that come with them. Policies for a variety of student categories must be properly written and communicated. Volumes of regulations define how to do it, and administrators multiply with every new well-intentioned good idea or micromanaging dictate out of Olympia.

There are two qualified candidates for superintendent of public instruction. Again, that election timing issue works against a smooth budget process. The new superintendent will be behind before she or he starts. This is a particularly important year to pay attention to who you send to Olympia to sit at the budget table and discuss how to spend over $15 billion in state funding.

Transportation was the second-highest priority at the virtual budget table. Agreeing on the basics, like bridges that don’t fall down and roads without shock-shattering potholes, isn’t too hard. But defining basic transportation is still a problem.

Some of the hardest-fought battles on transportation have been over which roads should include bike lanes. A backlog of deferred maintenance fights for attention with new infrastructure. Tolled roads and restricted commuter lanes aren’t an issue in the Spokane region but are huge on the West Side. Wasteful spending practices are a constant target. And a lack of strong agency leadership hasn’t helped. The agency is currently headed by an interim (again) until the governor makes an appointment (again) for ratification by the Senate, another wrinkle in the budget timeline.

The 2017 Legislative session ends in April. The Office of Financial Management “Guide to the Washington State Budget Process” realistically says the Legislature will pass the budget in April or May 2017. Time to start your office pool on the last date of the 2017 special session. Or sessions.

Columnist Sue Lani Madsen can be reached at rulingpen@gmail.com or on Twitter, @SueLaniMadsen.