Spring Break
Budget trimming cuts deep for students
The battle is on: Joint Ways and Means co-chairs release budget trimming sections from Governor's proposed budget
Lauren L. Dillard and The Associated Press
Issue date: 4/9/07 Section: News
Students have echoed his call. Emily McLain, a 21-year-old political science major at the University of Oregon, said it's not uncommon to see garbage bins placed in the middle of classrooms on campus to catch water from leaking roofs.
But Schrader and Nolan pared available construction money back to $50 million, citing worries about the state's rising debt load, a move that drew praise from Republican lawmakers.
"The co-chairs are legitimately concerned about sustainability," said Rep. Larry Galizio, D-Tigard, who will chair the Ways and Means subcommittee that has jurisdiction over education spending. "But if we do go to recession, there are construction jobs, so that's a potential positive economic impact, balanced against the debt service."
Any strategy higher education advocates pursue can't tiptoe around the 800-pound gorilla in the funding battles in Salem: K-12 education, which got a $210 million boost in Schrader and Nolan's budget, and has the deep-pocketed teachers' union in its corner. At $6.245 billion, word in Salem is that the K-12 budget is a done deal, leaving higher education little chance at chipping off some of the money.
"We are working hard not to be adversaries (with K-12)," said Cam Preus-Braly, the state's commissioner of community colleges.
Still, higher education has never had the same muscle in Salem as the public schools do. Students, after all, are a transitory population, usually out of the system within five years, tough to organize into a coherent lobbying voice. And lawmakers are all too aware that unlike most other state-funded services, universities and community colleges have a ready source of dedicated funding: tuition and fees.
To that end, Pernsteiner said, one strategy will be to spell out what he called the consequences of reduced investment in higher education: fewer students sticking it out after their freshman year, fewer high school seniors choosing to attend college, and lost revenue if the state yanks funding for potentially lucrative faculty research projects.
Schrader and Nolan point out that even though they've allocated less than the governor recommended, their budget still contains significant increases for universities and community colleges, $65 million and $35 million above current spending levels, respectively.
But key lawmakers said the political will is there to do more, if possible.
"It was very clear from the beginning that the funding for community college and higher education was not acceptable," House Speaker Jeff Merkley, D-Portland, said of the co-chairs' budget.
The field hearing hosted by the Joint Ways and Means Committee will be held in the cafeteria of Cheldelin Middle School on Conifer Boulevard in Corvallis at 6:30 p.m.
According to OSU Director of Government Relations Jock Mills, a showing of citizen support for OSU and its programs led to improvement of the budget toward OSU in the 2005 legislative session.
But Schrader and Nolan pared available construction money back to $50 million, citing worries about the state's rising debt load, a move that drew praise from Republican lawmakers.
"The co-chairs are legitimately concerned about sustainability," said Rep. Larry Galizio, D-Tigard, who will chair the Ways and Means subcommittee that has jurisdiction over education spending. "But if we do go to recession, there are construction jobs, so that's a potential positive economic impact, balanced against the debt service."
Any strategy higher education advocates pursue can't tiptoe around the 800-pound gorilla in the funding battles in Salem: K-12 education, which got a $210 million boost in Schrader and Nolan's budget, and has the deep-pocketed teachers' union in its corner. At $6.245 billion, word in Salem is that the K-12 budget is a done deal, leaving higher education little chance at chipping off some of the money.
"We are working hard not to be adversaries (with K-12)," said Cam Preus-Braly, the state's commissioner of community colleges.
Still, higher education has never had the same muscle in Salem as the public schools do. Students, after all, are a transitory population, usually out of the system within five years, tough to organize into a coherent lobbying voice. And lawmakers are all too aware that unlike most other state-funded services, universities and community colleges have a ready source of dedicated funding: tuition and fees.
To that end, Pernsteiner said, one strategy will be to spell out what he called the consequences of reduced investment in higher education: fewer students sticking it out after their freshman year, fewer high school seniors choosing to attend college, and lost revenue if the state yanks funding for potentially lucrative faculty research projects.
Schrader and Nolan point out that even though they've allocated less than the governor recommended, their budget still contains significant increases for universities and community colleges, $65 million and $35 million above current spending levels, respectively.
But key lawmakers said the political will is there to do more, if possible.
"It was very clear from the beginning that the funding for community college and higher education was not acceptable," House Speaker Jeff Merkley, D-Portland, said of the co-chairs' budget.
The field hearing hosted by the Joint Ways and Means Committee will be held in the cafeteria of Cheldelin Middle School on Conifer Boulevard in Corvallis at 6:30 p.m.
According to OSU Director of Government Relations Jock Mills, a showing of citizen support for OSU and its programs led to improvement of the budget toward OSU in the 2005 legislative session.
Note: writers will not reply to comments.
Be the first to comment on this story
Comments by registered users are approved by default.