After years of fiscal and midyear budget cuts to higher education, Gov. Bobby Jindal will reveal the 2012-13 state budget today, but his chief of staff announced Wednesday that colleges may breathe a sigh of relief when the budget is unveiled.
Stephen Waguespack, Jindal’s chief of staff, said Jindal personally told higher education administrators that the governor will not cut public colleges in the next fiscal year and hopes to give the universities an extra $100 million, according to The Associated Press.
The Associated Press also reported that Jindal said the $100 million is contingent on legislators agreeing to increase state workers’ retirement costs and approving changes to the state employee pension system.
Waguespack also told The Associated Press that the universities can bank on tuition increases in the upcoming school year as part of the LA GRAD Act.
But the University could still be in deep water if this year’s $8.1 million midyear cut is made permanent, or if Jindal’s budget changes when it goes to the Legislature.
The University has seen funding cuts for numerous University positions and a lack of faculty pay raises for three years.
While not all of Jindal’s past budgets have explicitly called for higher education cuts, the future of the University’s budget will be more clear once the legislative session reconvenes in March.
Chancellor Michael Martin and Director of External Affairs Jason Droddy said at the start of the semester they were hopeful newly appointed state legislators will side with the University.
“Hopefully we’ll have a platform or a stage from which to make our case,” Martin said at the time.
While the University’s $8.1 million midyear cut was temporary, the possibility of a permanent cut to the budget still looms. Martin said a permanent cut “narrows the bandwidth of programs we can put on the ground,” and more mergers and consolidations could become a reality if the University sees more cuts with this budget unveiling.
The 2012 fiscal year budget didn’t look as grim for higher education institutions as in past years, but further budget woes came at the hands of state legislators.
Medical centers across the state are already facing budget crises, as the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans faces cuts and the University Medical Center in Lafayette looks to close down a number of pediatric clinics.
Jindal plans to share the budget today at 9:30 a.m. at the Joint Legislative Committee meeting.
 
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Contact Brian Sibille at [email protected]