Is bouncing a check for $200 better than bouncing one for $300? That's a good question to keep in mind as you try to evaluate the spin around the latest revenue forecast. The revised state projection shows some improvement in tax collections, but that the state still faces a problem creating jobs. Instead of a $700 million projected shortfall we now have a $466 million shortfall. If you add inflation to the calculations the shortfall totals about $1.1 billion. The governor's reaction? Let's check the Star Tribune:

Gov. Tim Pawlenty, in Washington, D.C., for a National Governors Association meeting, said by phone Monday that the improved economic outlook was welcome news and "a big deal" that might allow for additional spending.

From its nadir of a $4.5 billion projected deficit in November 2002, the state will have gone to a positive balance of $704 million in the 2008-09 budget period, Pawlenty said. "That's major progress in less than a two-year period," he said. "It's been a heavy lift, but we've almost climbed out of the hole."

Pawlenty said the improved outlook "gives us more positive options beyond what we proposed a few weeks ago." He will release a supplemental budget in the coming days, he said, to reflect the increase in finances. That could mean more money for schools or slightly reduced cutbacks for some health care programs.

Something tells me that if we had a DFL governor and Tim Pawlenty were still the House Republican Leader he might have a different reaction to the economic news. Let's see what House DFL Leader Matt Entenza told MPR:

House Minority Leader Matt Entenza of St. Paul says Minnesota continues to be in deficit mode because of Republican budget policies.

"The governor and Republican leaders are in denial when they don't recognize that the billion-dollar deficit that grows into the future is being caused directly by the lack of investment in Governor Pawlenty's budget," he said.

Entenza stopped short of calling for a tax increase, but says DFLers are holding hearings around the state and will release their own budget proposal in mid-March.

Hmmm...I had a feeling he wouldn't be as happy as the governor. So what do the people think? Well, 6,000 of them rallied on the steps of the Capitol calling for more money for education. MPR's Tim Pugmire has that story:

The story is similar in school districts throughout Minnesota. School boards are cutting programs, laying off teachers and raising activity fees, all because state funding hasn't kept pace with operating costs. Phil Enke of Duluth, president of the Minnesota Parent Teacher Association, says he talks to members across the state and hears similar complaints.

"They're sick and tired of bake sales. They're sick and tired of running levy referendums. They're sick and tired of bringing catalogs to work and begging co-workers to buy wrapping paper and scented candles. "

The rally was organized by the Alliance for Student Achievement, an umbrella group that includes the Minnesota PTA and eight other statewide education organizations. Enke and other speakers called on elected officials to make public education a top funding priority.

Students are also growing frustrated by the financial problems hitting their schools. Jon Kent, a high school senior from Hopkins, challenged lawmakers to try to cope with the type of shortages found in many schools.

"I ask you senators and representatives, are you forced to squeeze a bill on tax codes onto a single page, double sided if you're lucky?"

But budget cuts mean more than paper shortages or crowded classrooms. Many students say they've also lost learning opportunities they once enjoyed. Jayna Flanders an eighth grader at Paynesville Middle School says she can no longer be in the band and the choir, because a summer science class was eliminated. She says her school also cut its marching band.

Some DFLers and Republicans called last week for spending an additional $750 million on schools over the next two years. They didn't say where the money should come from. The governor has proposed adding more than $250 million to the basic education formula. And of course if you look at the projections the state doesn't even have that much money. That's why cutbacks are required in other areas. In the next few days look for any number of groups to call for more spending based on the forecast that makes a bad situation look ever so slightly better.

In some other news, Rachel E. Stassen-Berger has this story in the Pioneer Press about a well known Minnesota activist who died over the weekend:

Sue Rockne was a fighter.

At the Minnesota state Capitol, she fought for women's rights, abortion access and safety for battered women. As a Democratic activist, she fought for and with the party and served as a 12-year Democratic National Committee member and five-time delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

And for 13 years she fought leukemia, a cancer that kills many of its victims quickly. She challenged it with the aid of a little red scooter that zoomed her around the Capitol halls and helped her travel across all seven continents in the past decade.

On Saturday, she succumbed to complications from the disease. She was 70.

"She went fast, which is a blessing for her," said her daughter, Lauri Rockne of St. Paul.