A report on state finances being released today delivers another round of bad news about budget conditions, signaling that more spending cuts could lie ahead for higher education and other state programs.

State tax collections are at their weakest in five years, according to the report, by the State University of New York’s Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government.

Over all, tax revenues increased by only 1.7 percent during the first quarter of this year, compared with the same period a year ago, the report says, marking the slowest growth rate since 2003. During that same period, for the first time in six years, sales taxes (a key revenue source) showed no growth from the year before, the report says.

Today’s report follows the release last month of a similarly gloomy report by the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers. Those groups found that overall growth in state spending had slowed significantly across the nation and that an increasing number of states faced revenue shortfalls.

Tighter state budgets often signal bad news for college officials and students, who face cuts in operating budgets and increases in tuition as legislatures struggle to make ends meet. —Sara Hebel