Budgetary Priorities

Budgetary Priorities: Community and Technical Colleges

Crystal L. Hardin

PPA 601: Foundations of Public Administration

July 25, 2011

Professor Jill Young

Introduction

Certainly, most can agree that Americans are suffering a severe financial crisis and the national debt is sky-rocketing as the President and Congress is scrambling to find ways to reduce the debt, increase revenue, and bring back a once-booming economy. The federal government attempts to identify budgetary priorities by the level of funding appropriated to address many public policy problems. Particularly, budgeting for education is experiencing cuts which could hinder students from receiving preparation for the workforce. One issue is the declining funds appropriated to community and technical colleges in the education sector. This analysis will discuss the insufficient funding of community colleges around the nation and how significant appropriate funding is to this issue in a time where higher education and/or technical skill training provided by community colleges is necessary to survive during high unemployment rates.

Public Budgeting and Prioritizing

Cropf (2008) outlines public budgeting as scarce resources being allocated among competing activities/interests in society ranging from education, medical research, etc. that puts the government in a position to choose (or prioritize) between “winners” (groups or individuals whose values and preferences prevail as reflected in larger program and project budgets) and “losers” (who receive smaller budgets for their programs and projects) (p. 301). Despite recent revenue decline, Congress and the President have been at odds suggesting painstaking measures balancing crucial public needs such as healthcare, education, transportation, public safety, and social security by proposed increased taxes/user fees, intergovernmental transfers, borrowing, and more importantly, reevaluating over-funded services/programs with idle purposes.

Community...