Four days, four big issues for the Legislature’s purse strings overseers.

As chair of the Legislature’s Appropriations committee, I and co-chair Sen. Peggy Rotundo (D-Androscoggin) have set an ambitious schedule to examine some of Maine’s biggest, and longest-neglected, challenges.

Government administration costs, future retirement benefit liabilities, MaineCare funding, and payments to Maine’s hospitals are just a few of the big issues that for too long have been recognized, but not dealt with. This week the Appropriations committee began taking action on each of those issues.

On Monday, the members of the Appropriations committee and Education committee heard testimony on six proposals to reduce administration costs associated with educating Maine’s nearly 200,000 students. Several recent studies have highlighted the need for Maine to reduce the number of school districts in our state so that we can better invest those resources directly in the classrooms of our children, rather than in layers of bureaucracy.

The proposals have generated much debate, and as the chairs of the Appropriations committee, we are committed to finding a compromise that will help us meet our goal of educational excellence.

On Tuesday, the Appropriations committee examined our state’s unfunded actuarial liabilities for the health insurance benefits promised to retired state employees and teachers. While this isn’t a topic of discussion at many kitchen tables, it is an issue in America’s largest corporate boardrooms and for federal, state and municipal governments across the nation.

Because of the committee’s actions, Maine is one of only 18 states which has received a true picture of its unfunded liability and what’s needed to reduce those costs. We are committed to keeping our state’s promises to our current and former employees in the most effective and fiscally responsible way possible.

On Tuesday, we also examined MaineCare, our state’s health insurance program for low-income children, the disabled and the elderly. With health-care costs skyrocketing, our state’s budget has become increasingly consumed by the expenses of this important program.

In fact, as we look at each budget, we have one briefing book devoted to social service programs and another devoted to all the other programs of state government. We must find ways to control the costs of this program, so they don’t crowd out all the other important investments our state must make. We must find greater efficiencies in our spending, while protecting the social safety net for our state’s most vulnerable citizens.

On Wednesday, the Appropriations committee began hearings on the governor’s proposed biennial budget. This is the Appropriations committee’s biggest responsibility each session. The state budget is more than a balance sheet of revenues and expenditures; it is a biennial reaffirmation about the scope of our government’s covenant with its citizens. It is a mission statement of our collective responsibilities to one another.

The governor has proposed streamlining several state departments in his budget, and our committee will be examining these and other proposals to reduce government spending, so we can reinvest resources where they can provide maximum benefits for residents of this state.

Then, on Thursday, we were busy on the House or Senate floor shepherding a supplemental budget for the fiscal year ending June 30. This bill primarily addressed long-neglected payments owed to Maine’s hospitals. It also provided emergency funding for flood relief, environmental protection, public safety and research and development. The Appropriations committee unanimously approved this measure, and our bipartisan work bodes well for our upcoming work on the biennial budget.

Maine taxpayers are demanding state government address the state’s major financial issues and not ignore them any longer. We hear their voices, and as our work this week shows, we are taking action.

Rep. Jeremy Fischer, D-Presque Isle, is House chair of the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee.