King acted within power on education budget cuts

AUGUSTA – Attorney General Steven Rowe said Wednesday that Gov. Angus King did not exceed his authority when he cut general purpose aid to education without legislative approval in an effort to balance the state budget.

Rep. Thomas Murphy, R-Kennebunk, had asked Rowe for an opinion on King’s proposed cut in education funding, one of the most unpopular elements of the budget-balancing plan King unveiled last month.

Murphy, a retired high school teacher and former House GOP leader, wrote in his June 26 letter to Rowe that King’s plan would cause “undue hardships” for schools, students and taxpayers.

Murphy also said King’s plan created a crisis on the local level because the budgets for many school districts were already closed while the deadline for municipalities to set property tax rates was fast approaching.

Rowe found that the chief executive neither exceeded his authority nor otherwise violated the state constitution.

Rowe wrote that state statute grants King the authority to reduce allotments, including education funding, when the Commissioner of Administrative and Financial Services reports a projected budget shortfall.

In finding that King did not violate the state constitution, Rowe cited a 1991 Superior Court decision that upheld then-Gov. John McKernan’s decision to cut funding for a child care voucher program in the face of a budget gap.

“While the … decision concerned executive curtailment of a different program, we do not find any basis to conclude that the court’s reasoning would not apply to Governor King’s curtailment of general purpose aid to education,” Rowe wrote.

Rowe also said King was not required to call a special legislative session and that the state constitution provides a mechanism for the Legislature to convene without a request by the governor.

King said last month that he was prepared to unilaterally reduce school aid by $10 million for fiscal 2003, which began July 1.

State aid to local school units was $622 million in fiscal 2000 and $664.1 million in fiscal 2001. It grew by 6.7 percent to $708.7 million for fiscal 2002, according to legislative analysts, and was scheduled to increase by 3.1 percent to $730.8 million for fiscal 2003.