Despite rosy economic news, highlighted by the 8.2 percent surge in the nation's economy in the third quarter of 2003, state coffers aren't growing at pace to meet the needs of schools and other high-priority programs such as Medicaid and prisons. Last month, many states started issuing estimates of how the money they'll have to spend in the 2005 fiscal year, which starts July 1 in most states. Overall, 21 states are forecasting shortfalls, totaling $40 billion, which amounts to about 11 percent of their operating budgets, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. In this article, the author discusses the factors that lead to the financial shortfalls of public education aid in some states. Public schools' advocates and educators have demanded the increase in order to keep up with the growing cost of public education.