State universities to offer $100M budget cut to lawmakers
by Renee Schafer Horton on Jan. 27, 2009, under Education, Local, SpecialThe Arizona Board of Regents and the state’s three university presidents have settled on an amount they believe higher education could trim in a midyear budget cut: $100 million.
UA Executive Vice President and Provost Meredith Hay gave the news to the UA Faculty Senate Monday in a report about the status of proposed budget cuts for this fiscal year, which ends June 30.
Hay said UA’s portion of that cut would be about $40 million, bringing UA’s total reduction of its original $443 million state appropriation for this year to $60 million.
UA President Robert N. Shelton said in December he thought UA would possibly have to take another $20 million hit to this year’s budget. The Legislature first reduced UA’s 2009 appropriation by $19.6 million in July 2008.
But Shelton’s prediction and hope were rendered moot about two weeks ago when Republican legislative leaders proposed budget options that reduced the state’s higher education budget by $388 million – $243 million before fiscal 2009 ends June 30 and $145 million after July 1.
Sen. Russell Pearce and Rep. John Kavanagh, respective chairmen of the Senate and House appropriations committees, came up with the options.
More than 900 people attended a Board of Regents meeting on Thursday to protest the proposed cuts and student leaders at all three universities will be marching on the Capitol Wednesday, according to UA Student Body President Tommy Bruce.
Last week, state House Speaker Kirk Adams charged regents and university presidents with developing their own set of options for higher education cuts. They did that over the weekend, Hay said.
In addition to offering the $100 million recision, Hay said the proposal petitioned Adams to let regents decide how to divide the $100 million cut among the state’s three universities.
In an interview before the Faculty Senate meeting, Hay said she and Shelton “will move heaven and earth” to maintain the depth of offerings at UA, in spite of large budget cuts. She said the answer, when the state isn’t providing adequate support, is to increase revenue, including raising tuition.
The regents in December approved a 9.9 percent increase in resident undergraduate tuition and fees for next fall.
