State budgets are escaping the pull of the recession and giving state officials more spending flexibility, but that doesn’t mean states have sufficient leeway to invest in new and emerging technology, according to a just-released state budget analysis and forecast for 2015 from Deltek.
A review of state financial figures shows general state revenues collectively increased by 2.3 percent over last year, contributing to five straight years of overall revenue growth for states. The report found that more than half of state budgets are balanced.
The study looked at shifts within state budget categories.
The rate of growth in health care and social services spending, the largest spending category, has slowed to 5.5 percent and is projected to continue growing more slowly than in the past.
Pre-K-through-12 budgets, meanwhile, grew by more than 4.5 percent over the past year while higher education funding grew by less than 1 percent, according to the report. Altogether, education funding accounts for almost 36 percent of an average state budget.
