Why isn't the Budget Balancer working on my computer?
To use the Budget Balancer, you need the Macromedia Flash player software. Many computers already have Flash. If yours doesn't, you can download it for free from the Macromedia Web site.

What can I do with my budget?
You can print it out, or you can e-mail it to family, friends, colleagues, or your legislator (we will help you find out who your legislator is if you don't already know). You can also view a comparison of it with Gov. Pawlenty's. We encourage you to compare your budgets with those of your family or friends to spark discussion and debate about the state's budget.

Why does MPR want to know so much about me?
Registering allows you to save your budget so you can come back and edit or finish it later. It also helps you keep track of your budgets if you do more than one. Your registration information will help the MPR newsroom analyze all of the budget plans that are submitted. That analysis will help inform our story assignments, and it may also help design public polls.

Your registration also gives us some information about you so we can ask for your help covering the news in the future. Your help is vital to make our coverage deeper, more insightful and more relevant. You can delete e-mails from our newsroom that don't relate to your knowledge or expertise, or you can simply unsubscribe.

Learn more about MPR's Public Insight Journalism

What will MPR do with my budget plan?
Your privacy is important to us. We will not share your individual budget plan or the personally identifying information you provide outside of the newsroom. We will compile your plan with others that we receive, and analyze them to see if any patterns or trends emerge. We may use what we learn to inform a poll, or to help plan story assignments.

Is anyone really reading all of the comments and ideas?
Absolutely. Minnesota Public Radio is committed to learning from you, and using what we learn to improve our news coverage. As such, we have people whose responsibility is to read what you write, and to pass on any intriguing leads or ideas to the appropriate reporters and editors in our newsroom. They may, in turn, choose to follow up on what you write. Your ideas may inspire us to cover stories and issues that we otherwise wouldn't have, and to think of new ways to cover stories and issues we are already aware of.

Where did the baseline numbers come from? (0 on the slider)
The baseline number represents the amount that the state was projected to spend or raise as of the February 2005 state revenue forecast. If you left all of the numbers at 0, you would end up with a $466 million deficit. On the spending side, this baseline number does not include inflation. So, in reality, leaving slider at 0 means an average 3.3 percent cut for every spending area.

How did MPR come up with the choices on the Budget Balancer?
The options in the Budget Balancer are not simply figments of our imagination. Every one of them is grounded, to varying degrees, in reality. We made contact with dozens of people and organizations who are thinking through various parts of the budget, and asked them to both help us come up with realistic budget options, and then to help us get a sense of what effect those options would have if they became law. Our sources ranged widely, from legislative fiscal analysts to advocacy groups to state agencies. This was, above all, a journalistic endeavor-informed by the same ethical guidelines that MPR uses to cover the news every day.

How can I use the Balancer in my classroom?
We hope that many people use the Budget Balancer as an educational tool. Many teachers assigned our last Budget Balancer to students in economics and public policy classes. In many cases, teachers had students create their own budget plan and write an essay about why they chose what they did.

Sources/Credits
AFSCME
American Association of University Professors
American Lung Association
ARC Minnesota
Association of Metropolitan School Districts
Center for Public Finance Research, Minnesota Taxpayers Association
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Children's Defense Fund
Clean Water Action
Corporation for Enterprise Development
Department of Finance
Department of Human Services
Department of Labor and Industry
Department of Public Safety
Department of Revenue
Education Minnesota
House Fiscal Analysis
House Research
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
League of Minnesota Cities
Minneapolis Public Schools
Minnesota Association of School Administrators
Minnesota Budget Project
Minnesota Chamber of Commerce
Minnesota COACT
Minnesota Higher Education Services Office
Minnesota Historical Society
Minnesota Hospital Association
Minnesota Humanities Commission
Minnesota Judicial Branch
Minnesota Medical Association
Minnesota Private College Council
Minnesota Smoke-Free Coalition
MnSCU
National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education
National Education Association
Office of Educational Accountability, University of Minnesota
Office of the Legislative Auditor
Senate Fiscal Analysis
State Arts Board
Tax Foundation
Tax Research Division, Department of Revenue
Taxpayers League of Minnesota
The Lombardi Program on Measuring University Performance
University of Minnesota