Monday, November 23, 2009
Almost every state agency is affected under Governor Mark Parkinson’s newest round of budget cuts announced in a news conference Monday, including everyone from students to road construction workers to bioscience researchers.
GOVERNOR’S LATEST BUDGET CUTS
The governor’s largest cuts from the Fiscal Year 2010 Budget include:
Replacing K-12 funding from the State General Fund with Stimulus funding: $85 million
Highway maintenance: $50 million
K-12 education: $36 million
Bioscience Authority: $5 million
Department of Corrections: $4 million
Regents: $2 million
Highway Patrol: $1 million
Kansas Bureau of Investigation: $1 million
BOARD OF REGENTS BUDGET
by fiscal year:
2006: $747 million
2007: $785 million
2008: $829 million
2009, first draft: $853 million
2009, after amendments: $817 million
2010: $790 million
2010, after amendments: $768 million
2010, after first allotment: $753 million
2010, after second Allotment: $747 million
Citing declining tax revenues, Parkinson cut a total of $285.9 million to state agencies, opting to keep the money in the state’s general fund. The Board of Regents’ budget was cut by $2 million to $747 million. The governor’s cuts roll back the Regents’ budget to what it was in 2006.
Kathy Damron, director of state relations for the University, said KU officials feared an even larger cut than what was announced. She said she was pleased the governor found a way to balance the budget without another deep cut out of higher education.
“I think that’s in line with the statements he has made up to this point about his priorities for Kansas and wanting to see our universities be able to continue to serve students and meet the needs of future workforce areas where we have particular shortages,” Damron said.
Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said in a news release that it was a relief to know Parkinson was able to avoid future deep cuts to education. But she said the University endured deep cuts earlier this year in which they had to eliminate course sections and lay off 200 people.
We have also seen these budget reductions impact efforts to obtain National Cancer Institute designation, as we’ve had to scale back efforts to recruit top faculty and researchers who are vital to this and other important research programs,” Gray-Little said.
The Board of Regents will make the final decision about what cuts to individual academic institutions will be. The Regents have their next general meeting on Dec. 16 and 17.
Regent Gary Sherrer said in a news release that the cuts had already reached the point at which the quality of education would be affected.
“It’s important for Kansans to understand that ongoing higher education budget cuts are jeopardizing their opportunity to enroll in and complete academic programs,” Sherrer said. “Class sizes are increasing, course reductions are making it more difficult for students to graduate in four years, reduced state funding correlates to increased tuition costs and institutions are now turning away qualified applicants to high demand programs due to a lack of funding.”
Other state budget cuts include $50 million from highway maintenance funds, $36 million from K-12 education and $5 million from the Kansas Bioscience Authority.
“There’s no way to sugarcoat this,” Parkinson said. “This will have very negative effects across the state.”
Parkinson said he did not wait for the legislature to meet to cut funds because he wanted to give agencies time to figure out what to cut before the 2010 Fiscal Year ends June 30, 2010.
“By making the announcements now, the recipients of funds can act in a prudent way,” Parkinson said.
Parkinson said the frequency of budget cuts in the past four years had been unprecedented in state history. He said there was never a time before when the budget had cut multiple years in a row.
“The waste is gone,” Parkinson said. “The cuts we are making now are to basic services.”
Before the governor’s news conference Kevin Corbett, president of Jayhawks for Higher Education, said the group was “extraordinarily concerned” about budget cuts to higher education. He said he hoped Parkinson, who graduated in 1984 from the University’s law school, would be considerate of the Regents institutions.
“We hope he will show strong support, as he has in the past, of higher education,” Corbett said.
Parkinson said he would start working on the 2011 budget Tuesday. The University announced before the cuts Monday it would hold a budget forum to discuss how budget decisions will be made at noon next Wednesday in Alderson Auditorium in Level 4 of the Kansas Union.
— Alex Garrison contributed to the reporting of this story
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