While students, administrators and legislators have been racking their brains to solve the budget cut crisis, one state representative thinks he’s got a plan to help bring the University out of financial despair.
Rep. Joe Harrison, R-Terrebone, said he has been working for two years on the idea of a three-year budget cycle, which would give higher-education institutions the opportunity to plan their budgets for three years at a time instead of one like they do now.
Harrison said he has been trying to get the Jindal administration to review the plan.
“The University would come in and say, ‘This is what we need,’ the state would give them a three-year plan, and [the state] would be held accountable for what they promise,” he said.
Harrison said the University needs a good business plan to thrive and had some harsh words for the Board of Regents, which he said has hindered the University’s ability to do so.
“Regents has failed,” he said. “They have not accommodated the University in a way to make them successful.”
Harrison said the main problem is that the University’s budget is constantly being cut.
“LSU is our flagship university, and we need to support it any way we can,” he said.
Harrison said getting his idea off the ground would be as simple as calling a constitution special session to address the situation, which can be done within a period of two weeks. He said such a thing hasn’t be done since the late 1980s but believes it’s necessary.
“People need to stand up and say, ‘No more,’ or there is little hope for the future of our state,” Harrison said.
Harrison said Louisiana is ranked 49th in education in the United States, and he said he believes if something isn’t done now, the state will fall to No. 50.
“Higher education is the only means that we can use to build our economy,” Harrison said.
Jason Droddy, the University’s director of External Affairs, said he agrees with Harrison, but he said he’s unsure of how easy the plan would be to implement.
“The state works on a fiscal year, so I don’t know how complicated it would be, technically speaking,” he said.
Droddy also said several questions would have to be answered before such a plan could be implemented.
“If the state’s budget increases, is our budget increased?” Droddy asked. “Or is it a locked-in amount?”
Droddy said the most important benefit a three-year budget cycle would offer is time.
“Anytime you have more time to plan, it’s going to be beneficial,” he said.
 
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Contact Rachel Warren at [email protected]