FY 2014 Budget Highlights

OK Policy’s annual Budget Highlights issue brief is one of the most informative and accessible ways to track Oklahoma’s public spending. Today we’ve released the FY 2014 Budget Highlights, which include a bullet point summary of the state budget, six charts illustrating different aspects of the budget, and a table showing appropriations for every state agency going back to 2009.

The bullet points are excerpted below. You can download the full issue brief here.

Total appropriations for FY 2014 are $7.1587 billion.

• Appropriations increased by $285 million, or 4.1 percent, from the final FY 2013 budget.
• Certified revenue accounts for $6,987.4 million (97.6 percent) of the budget.
• An additional $126.3 million was appropriated out of one-time fund transfers.
• $45 million was withdrawn from the Rainy Day Fund for tornado relief.

Most agency budgets have not kept up with inflation.

• In 2013 dollars, the FY 2014 budget is $572 million below FY 2009.
• In 2013 dollars, 40 out of the 73 appropriated state agencies remain 20 percent or more below FY 2009 funding levels. This year, 39 agencies received funding cuts or flat funding.

A few targeted priorities received significant funding increases.

• Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services: $17.4 million to support initiatives including suicide prevention, prescription drug abuse and treatment, and counseling for children with mental illness.
• State Regents: $33 million, which will go mostly to debt restructuring costs.
• Department of Human Services: $44 million to fund reforms to the child welfare system and reduce the waiting list for developmental disability services.
• Department of Education: $74 million to partially fund education reforms and boost the school funding formula.
• Oklahoma Health Care Authority: $39.7 million to improve Medicaid coverage.
• Infrastructure: $90 million for a state building maintenance revolving fund and repairs to the state Capitol building.

The portion of the budget going to common education continues to fall.

• Common education is slated to receive 33.8 percent of appropriations, down from 34.4 percent in FY 2013 and 35.3 percent in FY 2012.
• Common education will receive the lowest share of the budget since at least FY 2000.
• State formula funding for public schools remains $213 million below FY 2008 levels, even as enrollment has increased by more than 30,000 students.