The budget cuts the LSU System is facing next year may not be as doom-and-gloom as first projected. Gov. Bobby Jindal told The News-Star in Monroe on Sunday that cuts in higher education will likely not be at the worst-case scenario level.In late January, the Governor’s Office warned of cuts in higher education between $212 million and $382 million for the 2009-10 fiscal year beginning July 1.The Governor’s Office asked higher education officials to submit plans for a worst-case scenario cut of 30 percent. The cut could mean a budget reduction of about $71.9 million at LSU’s main campus in Baton Rouge, according to a budget reduction exercise System officials released Wednesday. About 2,000 System employees could lose their jobs if the cuts went into effect. Course offerings could also decrease and larger class sizes could result.  System President John Lombardi said he looks forward to continuing work with Jindal, his staff and the Legislature to find solutions for Louisiana’s challenges in higher education and health care — two areas in the state’s budget left most vulnerable to cuts. Lombardi met with Commissioner of Administration Angèle Davis, along with other university system presidents, to present budget reduction exercises Monday. “The budget exercise requested by the Division of Administration has clearly focused all of our attention on the importance of finding solutions that do not require the kind of major reductions outlined in that exercise,” Lombardi said in an e-mail to The Daily Reveille. “Most people we’ve spoken with are very clear about the damage that would be done to the state if its higher education institutions at all levels found it necessary to implement reductions of this magnitude.”System spokesman Charles Zewe said Davis told the presidents to expect a proposed state budget by mid-March. “It’s still very early in the budget process,” Jindal told The News-Star. “These numbers are likely to change. There are many more steps in the process.”Jindal reportedly said there will be significant “belt-tightening, but people shouldn’t panic when they see these early plans.””These are worst-case scenarios,” Jindal said. “Look what happened this year. We did make adjustments, but even after the cuts higher education was funded with more dollars this year than last.”Jindal originally projected a mid-year cut in higher education of about $109 million, but the number was eventually decreased to $55 million. C.B. Forgotston, attorney and political pundit who worked for the Louisiana Legislature for more than 13 years, said the budget cut projections and reductions are a “game.””[Higher eduction] is unprotected and will remain unprotected,” Forgotston said. Forgotston said Davis acts as the bad cop who delivers bleak news about worst-case scenario budget cuts, while Gov. Jindal is the good cop, saving the day by lessening the amount of the budget cuts in the end. It’s all for political gain, Forgotston said, but in the name of protecting higher education. Forgotston said this exercise is the equivalent of threatening to shoot somebody but cutting their finger instead. Either way, they get hurt. “If education was number one, we would have long ago changed the constitution to protect health care and education,” Forgotston said. “It’s a matter of priorities.”Chancellor Michael Martin said the pattern of projecting higher budget cuts and actually cutting less is common in the political world. Martin said he has witnessed the same pattern in several states in which he has worked. “We look forward to continuing good news,” Martin said. “I believe the governor and his staff recognize the importance of LSU to this state.”Martin said while he, like Jindal, sees the worst-case scenario cuts as unlikely, it is important to plan. “If I really thought the worst-case scenario was going to happen, I would look worse than I do because I wouldn’t be sleeping,” Martin said. Martin said he worries about the psychological effects on University employees and students who read about worst-case scenario budget cuts, but that it is important to realize any cuts will certainly have an adverse effect on the University. Martin said his goals during the pending budget cuts are to save jobs while maintaining the University’s academic core and standing.—-Contact Kyle Bove at [email protected]