Tough decisions may face the University if budget cuts anticipated by some of Louisiana’s higher education administrators become a reality.
With the legislative session fewer than three months away, the possibility of funding reductions for the University looms large in the minds of some administrators, faculty and students.
As a result, higher education officials from around the state are acting to ensure their operating budgets avoid both funding cuts and possible repercussions.
Chancellor Mark Emmert and his staff remain optimistic about the legislature’s ability to adequately fund the University next year.
Emmert’s agenda for the spring legislative session is to convince legislators to keep the current budget plan, to tweak more money out of the state to hire more faculty and staff, to increase their salaries and to get more funding for graduate student assistantships.
“We need more faculty for the growing number of students,” Emmert said.
Emmert said the core funding issue is important for students because he wants to “maintain the quality of education.”
“The No. 1 complaint of students is accessibility to classes and class size,” he said.
Emmert praised Gov. Mike Foster’s administration for maintaining its commitment to higher education.
“We don’t want to turn back the clock on progress,” Emmert said.
Although there has been some speculation about looming budget cuts in the spring legislative session, Bob Kuhn, associate vice chancellor of Budget and Planning, has not officially begun preparing for budget cuts and does not expect them.
“That would be uncharacteristic of the Foster administration,” Kuhn said.
Compared to similar southern universities, LSU only receives 68 percent of the average university budget, leaving it $70 to $80 million underfunded, Emmert said.
“There is doubtlessly going to be a difficult budget debate,” Emmert said.
Emmert is not panicking about preparations for massive budget cuts.
Nevertheless, a three percent tuition increase about to pass in the legislature will produce a net gain of $2.6 million for the University, Kuhn said. According to an unofficial budget and finance committee report, once the legislation is implemented, each student’s tuition would increase $52 per semester.
Most students will not be aware of the increase because TOPS covers it, he said. The University still gets the additional revenue, whether the students pay for it or TOPS pays for it, so he said if there are any budget cuts, the extra money will help.
Kuhn’s main concern involves mandated costs, which are out of the University’s control. Large increases in things such as health insurance benefits for University employees and merit increases for civil service employees have added up to $8 million in expenses not covered in the budget. Whether the state gives the University the money in the budget or not, the budget and planning committee still has to provide the money for the mandated costs.
Addressing the budget shortfall in the College of Arts and Sciences in fall 2002, Kuhn said the crisis was an internal conflict.
“They made a mistake,” he said.
The University makes a budget for each college and the college decides what to do with the money. Kuhn claims the college did not prepare properly for any surprises it may have encountered.
Salary financing remains a major concern. Out of the $306 million operating budget, 80.2 percent of the budget goes to funding University employee salaries, Kuhn said.
Administrators from outside the LSU System have expressed concerns about the legislative session.
University of Louisiana System President Sally Clausen has been bridging communication gaps between state legislators and higher educators. Clausen does not want to have a repeat of drastic budget cuts seen in past legislative sessions.
“Higher education had a terrible downsizing during the oil bust of the 1980s, one that we have never caught up on,” Clausen said.
Clausen decided to bring legislative leaders and higher education policymakers together in a panel discussion Jan. 9. The forum, targeting 2003 gubernatorial candidates, was titled “How Louisiana can lead the nation in education: Shaping the agenda for Louisiana’s leaders.”
Members from the Southern Regional Education Board, as well as a table of panelists representing educators, administrators, students and legislators from around the state, attended the event. Gov. Mike Foster also made a brief appearance.
“We are in the position to make fantastic progress for the future,” Clausen said. “The start of this dialogue is a step forward.”
LSU System President William Jenkins believed the forum was refreshing in a period of otherwise shaky economic progress nationwide.
“The difficulties of funding constraints and our state’s history of poor funding will make some problems with funding higher education difficult to correct, but we must address these issues for the sake of Louisiana’s future,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins praised the forum’s organizers and participants for beginning a dialogue on what he believes is one of Louisiana’s most complex problems.
State legislators also are very optimistic in their assessment of funding for higher education.
State Rep. William Daniel, D – Baton Rouge, said the University is at the bottom of the “totem pole” regarding the budget, and higher education — along with health care and welfare — is unprotected. Because the budget faces a severe economic slump this year, balancing it is important to legislators, Daniel said.
The Legislature did pass a constitutional amendment in November allowing them to enter protected areas of the budget and cut funding by five percent, he said.
“Gov. Foster has been a strong protector of LSU and higher education,” Daniel said.
Daniel disagrees with the devastating cuts made to health and welfare to maintain the status quo for higher education and said it “is a poor way to run the budget.”
Daniel said both are important because the poor in the state cannot be neglected, and higher education is the “economic engine of the state.”
Daniel also said higher education should remain one of the top priorities for the spring legislative session, but “it is always good to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.”
State Sen. Willie Mount, D – Lake Charles, vice chair of the Senate Education Committee, also was optimistic about the Legislature’s ability to adequately fund education in the coming year.
She and other members of the House and Senate Education Committees were present for the forum, including House Education Chair Carl Crane, R – Baton Rouge, and Senate Education Chair Gerald Theunissen, R – Jennings. Both Crane and Theunissen sat on the panel.
“We have a fantastic system [for funding] at work here, and we really need to stay the course,” Mount said.
Mount also emphasized her confidence in the Foster administration and its prioritization of education.
“Foster has led the state in the right direction,” Mount said, “and realized that higher education funding goes hand-in-hand with economic development endeavors.”
The Louisiana Legislature will convene March 31, and both the Senate and House Education Committees are holding preliminary meetings to prepare for debates on education expected to take place in both legislative houses.