↑ Grab this Headline Animator

Schools and Local Governments Face Increasing Budget Pressure in 20States

MCH, Inc., the leading provider of business-to-institution marketing data, released its May 2009 BudgetAware's8482; Bulletin, which reports that 20 states have increased budget pressure on schools and other local government organizations compared to its previous report in November 2008. According to the report, budget pressure was reduced in five states during the same period.

MCH produces the BudgetAware's8482; Bulletin as a service for companies that sell products and services to institutions including schools, hospitals, nursing homes, law enforcement agencies, and city and county governments. The 29-page report can be downloaded from the company'ss web site (www.mailings.com).

Schools and other local government agencies have experienced a period of unprecedented funding disruption, especially in the states that have been most affected by the collapse of the housing bubble, said MCH President John F. Hood. While the overall economy has had a severe slump, it'ss notable that many states and municipalities are managing to cope with modest adjustments to their budgets.

The firm'ss analysis is based on a composite of factors including state budgets, tax projections, foreclosures, and property values. The most critical factor in our scoring is whether a state is able to maintain relatively consistent funding for its major services, especially K-12 education, Hood says.

MCH indicates that budget pressure has intensified for institutions in 20 states, while 13 states are ranked as having stable funding situations. The report classifies the budget pressure in each state as extreme, strong, moderate, light, or stable.

The company has eased its description the level of budget pressure for Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, Utah, and Virginia. The response to the budget challenges in these states has been clarified from where they were at the end of 2008. In most of these cases, the state governments have modified their plans in ways that limited the negative effect on K-12 education and other local agencies, Hood said.

The Federal government'ss stimulus spending package included billions of dollars directed to help stabilize state budgets. According to Hood, those funds have eased the impact of the weak economy, but the level of remaining challenges varies. Middle America is coping best, Hood said. Many of those states have been able to use stimulus money, hiring freezes, funds transfers, reserve funds, and modest cost reductions to maintain budget stability. That'ss in contrast to the states with the most severe budget pressure where institutions simply can'st make up the whole gap with stimulus funds.

MCH is encouraging its clients to develop state-by-state marketing strategies based on the level of funding available to the local institutions. In addition to the BudgetAware's8482; Bulletin, the company maintains a blog at www.stimulusmarketing.com that tracks the latest availability of federal stimulus funding as its made available to states and local agencies.

The following list shows how MCH has ranked states based on the level of budget pressure being felt by institutions. You can view the map at (insert link)

* Stable: AK, AR, CO, NE, MO, MT, ND, OK, SD, TX, UT, WV, WY

* Light Pressure: NH, ID, KS, LA, MS, NM, VA, VT

* Moderate Pressure: IA, IN, KY, MD, TN

* Strong Pressure: AL, GA, HI, ME, MN, NC, OR, PA

* Extreme Pressure: AZ, CA, CT, DE, IL, FL, MA, MI, OH, NJ, NV, NY, RI, SC, WI, WA

Changes compared to the November report:

* CT changed from light to extreme pressure

* DE changed from moderate to extreme pressure

* GA changed from moderate to strong pressure

* IL changed from moderate to extreme pressure

* IN changed from stable to moderate pressure

* IA changed from stable to moderate pressure

* KS changed from stable to light pressure

* LA changed from stable to light pressure

* MD changed from moderate to light pressure

* MA changed from moderate to extreme pressure

* MI changed from light to extreme pressure

* MN changed from moderate to strong pressure

* MO changed from light pressure to stable

* NH changed from moderate to light pressure

* NJ changed from strong to extreme pressure

* NM changed from stable to light pressure

* NC changed from stable to strong pressure

* OH changed from light to extreme pressure

* OR changed from stable to strong pressure

* PA changed from light to strong pressure

* SC changed from moderate to extreme pressure

* UT changed from light pressure to stable

* VA changed from moderate pressure to light pressure

* WA changed from light pressure to extreme pressure

* WI changed from strong pressure to extreme pressure

MCH is America'ss leading compiler of business-to-institution (B2i) databases and mailing lists.The MCH database features information on 1.1 million institutions, 8 million decision makers, and email addresses for key decision makers at hospitals, schools, and local government offices. MCH'ss large, on-site research staff continuously updates data, primarily through telephone surveys. MCH also provides data processing services (merge/purge, file cleaning, postal presort, etc.). In addition, the MCH GeoPoints division provides geospatially-enabled data for mapping applications. MCH has offices in Sweet Springs and Kansas City, MO.

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

---

This article has been robotically scanned and tagged by Prnewsnow with the following search tags. No human manipulation of these tags take place.
| Management | Hrsmart Com | talent management suite |

---

4927 readers online...

, Local News