Special Legislative Update
2nd Week of Budget Hearings
Funding for Higher Education
I am writing all of you after an exhausting week of committee meetings and constituent meetings. I can honestly tell everyone, these past two weeks have been the most trying as a legislator. I have worked relentlessly this week to find all the facts and sort through a vast amount of disinformation. I have received hundreds of emails this week regarding the budget reduction for Higher Education and have constructed what I believe is a pretty accurate picture of the situation. I want to share with all the constituents of the 109th the most accurate information where so we as a community can construct the best policy to defend education.
As a Legislator, a board member of Henry County Farm Bureau, and a parent with a child in the University System of Georgia I can appreciate the concerns and objections to the proposed cuts. I am not supporting the elimination of 4-H, nursing slots, or the Veterinarian teaching hospital. I want the Board of Regents to establish a better list of priorities. At the top, it should be graduating as many Georgians with a quality college diploma as possible. We need creative ways to cut the budget with the least amount of impact on the students.
The budget reductions released by the University System of Georgia (USG) were in response to the request from the Appropriations Committee that the system cut another $300 million from their budget without raising student tuition. These are proposed by USG not by the Legislature. It is important to understand the constitutional responsibilities, the Legislature sets the budget number for USG and they in turn are required with that budget amount to maintain our University System. The legislature cannot direct to cut certain programs. The USG has the responsibility to work within the budget amount given to them to allocate where most appropriate. They are educational specialists, the legislature is not. With that said, the Appropriations Committee is going to ask what different options are with different budget scenarios, but please remember that the USG’s Chancellor and Board of Regents will be the final determination of where the cuts come from not the legislature.
There are some specific points that I believe that USG can improve, specifically, their out of state waiver program. As testified in committee, the USG is offering over 9,000 waivers to out of state students. These waivers exempt these students from paying the increase cost of tuition. These students will be paying as if they had graduated from a Georgia High School, which in most cases means they are paying four times less than what they are supposed to. While a majority of these are going to students in bordering states, legal foreign born students, and student athletes; some of the waivers are also going to illegal immigrants. By eliminating these waivers, in their entirety, the system can save approximately $180 million. A total elimination of the waiver program is unlikely, as some children of military transfers are included in this count. However, we can certainly cut back to a bare minimum saving the University System over half of the requested cuts and focus on educating Georgia’s children during this crisis.
Another area that could be cut is high level administration salary. Eighteen of the top twenty paid USG employees received raises in 2009. One professor, Stephen Baginski, went from $270,000 to $341,000 for a total increase of 26.18%. We have not had the commitment of the Chancellor not to raise salaries this year either. We are clearly not down to the bone in funding for the University System. I would like to personally see the Chancellor make the commitment not to give any raises for the next two years.
One area of confusion has been the shared proportion of declining revenue. There are some people who are saying that education is being specifically targeted to receive more cuts or that higher education is being treated as an emergency fund. This is not true; education and higher education are being specifically sheltered from the deeper cuts seen in other agencies, divisions, and departments.
As everyone is aware, the current economic conditions have forced the state to make difficult budgetary decisions. Last year when creating the Fiscal Year 2010 budget, we had to reduce state spending by approximately $2.6 billion due to the economic down turn. In order to ensure a balanced budget as required by our state constitution we will have to cut the FY 2011 budget by an additional $1.5 billion. Every agency, division, and department is taking substantial cuts to help with budget crisis. Education (K-12) is taking a 6% cut and the University System is taking a 7.5% cut, every other department is taking a minimum of 12% in cuts while some are taking as much as 30%.
I encourage you to forward your comments to Chancellor Davis or call their office of fiscal affairs as your efforts will be more effective. The Chancellor needs to hear from students, parents, and you what programs are most important.
chancellor@usg.edu
Chancellor Errol Davis
270 Washington Street, SW
Atlanta, Georgia 30334
404-656-2202