State colleges balk at budget cuts

• By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Jun 3, 2008 - Page: 4A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Officials with the state’s public colleges and universities told lawmakers Monday that proposed budget cuts would move the state backward.

They predicted the reductions would thwart their efforts to increase enrollment and to reward high performance.

“The cuts are really going to matter,” Louisiana Community and Technical College System President Joe May told the Senate Committee on Finance.

LSU System President John Lombardi said a $1 million reduction is proposed for the main campus’ budget.

The budget cut would drop the flagship university below the regional average for funding, he said.

Smaller cuts to the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center would dull the school’s competitive edge, Lombardi said.

“We just need your help,” he said.

Gov. Bobby Jindal proposed a $30 billion state operating budget for the spending year that begins July 1.

The budget would reduce the state government work force by more than 1,000 positions, spend $10 million on job training, keep teacher pay at the Southern regional average and fund $3 million for research at Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

Jindal’s budget is larger than the spending plan that former Gov. Kathleen Blanco proposed for the current fiscal year.

The House recommended cutting $120 million, mostly from health care and education.

Part of the motivation for the cuts was an expenditure limit that prevents lawmakers from spending beyond a certain amount without a two-thirds vote.

The limit, calculated based on the growth in Louisiana’s personal income over three years, is designed to curtail state spending.