Arkansas state budget (2011-2012)

Note: This article was last updated in 2012. Click here for more recent information on state budgets and finances.

On November 10, 2010, Governor Mike Beebe presented his fiscal year 2012 $4.6 billion budget proposal.

Education spending

For fiscal year 2012, Arkansas devoted 34.7 percent of its total spending to education, up from 36.0 percent in fiscal year 2009.

Fiscal year	Total spending	Education spending	Percent education spending
2009	$20.5 billion	$7.4 billion	36.0%
2010	$21.6 billion	$7.5 billion	34.7%
2011	$21.6 billion	$7.5 billion	34.7%
2012	$$21.9 billion	$7.6 billion	34.7%

Governor's proposed budget

The governor's proposed fiscal year 2012 budget of $4.6 billion was 2.5 percent higher than that of fiscal year 2011, with approximately $109 million more in spending.

The budget's only tax cut was to reduce grocery taxes by half a percent, from two percent down to 1.5 percent. The budget called for $55 million more for public schools, an increase of 2.9 percent, and increased the Human Services budget by nearly $6 million, around 0.6 percent. It also provided state employees with a 1.86 percent cost-of-living increase in pay, which was expected to cost about $23 million.