Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu

STATEHOUSE UPDATE VOL. 4, NO. 3 FEBRUARY 3, 1997

It's been a busy week for higher education in the House Ways and Means Committee.

Public college and university officials went before the committee on Tuesday and Wednesday, January 28 and 29, for budget hearings. Each state-assisted institution, as well as the Commission for Higher Education, had an opportunity to make the case for additional funding. The Commission for Higher Education began the process by making their recommendations, followed by a presentation by each institution.

Purdue President Steven C. Beering led Purdue's presentation by stressing the need for adequate funding to maintain our current programs -- which we believe is at least a 4 percent adjustment to our current appropriations. He also highlighted the importance of investing in technology for teaching and the impact that will have on our students. Beering also focused on the future economic competitiveness of Indiana's business and agricultural sectors, and outlined the need for increased funding for the three outreach programs included in our request: the Technical Assistance Program, Statewide Technology offerings and the Cooperative Extension Service request. An expansion of all three of these important programs will offer opportunities for major contributions to the future of our state's economy.

On the capital projects front, Purdue is pleased with the commission's recommendations, which include completion of the Food Science/Biotechnology Complex at West Lafayette, the Science Building at Fort Wayne and the Classroom/Office Building at Calumet, as well Calumet's Anderson Building asbestos abatement and part of the renovation and upgrades at West Lafayette's Wade Utility Plant. Its support for increased funding for maintenance and repair of our existing investment in buildings and infrastructure also is very positive.

The bottom line? While we believe full funding of our operating request is badly needed and affordable, the Commission for Higher Education's recommendation should be the minimum. While this level of state support falls considerably short of our request, it would allow Purdue to make some progress toward its goals for the biennium. The following table summarizes the total institutional request, the commission's recommendation and the State Budget Committee's recommendation for the operating budgets.

General Operating Appropriation *: All Public Institutions

Base 1997-98 Increase 1998-99 Increase Total

Biennium

1. 97 $ % $ % Increase

(as of 10-2-96)

Commission Recommendation $45,964,061 5.10% $48,544,387 5.12% $140,472,509

One-time Cash for Quality $15,786,692 $32,268,802 $48,055,494

(as of 10-14-96)

Committee Recommendation $19,988,568 2.22% $28,738,069 3.12% $68,715,205

One-time Cash for Quality $15,786,692 $32,268,802 $48,055,494

(as of 1-6-97)

*Includes: Inflation, base and quality adjustments. Excludes: Debt Service, repair and rehabilitation, and line items.

Bills of Interest in the Early Going

As the pace of the 1997 session picks up, here are some initiatives we are watching with interest:

• House Bill 1007 (collective bargaining): This is a collective bargaining bill that includes colleges and universities. It has been voted out of the Labor Committee in the House. Conventional wisdom and past experience suggest that it will have a difficult time passing. Purdue has had a long-standing policy against mandatory bargaining legislation for higher education, especially for faculty.

• Making College Affordable: There are several bills that address the affordability of a college education. Some offer tax credits or deductions for individuals and/or parents for tuition and fees, some include other costs as well. One bill is a low-interest loan program that offers a loan forgiveness option if the student remains in the state after graduation. Another bill doubles the current $100 individual and $200 joint-filers tax credit for contributions to public or private higher education institutions and expands it to include high schools. There appears to be considerable interest in helping Hoosiers pay for college. One or more of these approaches seems likely to pass, especially since it is expected to be supported by Gov. Frank O'Bannon. It is our view, of course, that anything that assists students and their families pay for a college education is helpful.

• Tax Legislation: Expect a great deal of continuing discussion on tax legislation. Eliminating or phasing out the inheritance and state estate tax has a great deal of support. Other measures include eliminating or phasing out property taxes on business inventories; redirecting sales tax on gasoline and other automobile-related purchases to the highway budget; increasing the current 20 percent property tax credit to a 60 percent credit; and increasing the sales tax by 1 cent and the individual and supplemental net income tax by 1 percent above current levels.

  Of course, fiscal-affairs watchers recognize that the state's current revenue stream cannot afford a major tax cut without replacement revenue. The governor has proposed a broad-based citizens committee to make recommendations on tax restructuring before he reports any of these major tax bills.

While not part of Purdue's request, expanded funding for the Purdue-administered Indiana Reading Recovery Program is included in the state Department of Education's literacy initiative. It also includes funding for expanding purchase of books for elementary education and for adult literacy programs.

Enhanced funding of this request will put more Reading Recovery teachers in Indiana classrooms and help expand the number of schools that will be able to start the program over the next several years. The goal is to implement the program in every first-grade class in the state. Reading Recovery's success rate of more than 80 percent and the potential long-run remediation cost-savings to the schools more than justify the investment.

This exciting program targets those first-grade students who are having the most difficulty learning to read. With specialized one-on-one instruction, Reading Recovery brings participating students up to grade level and beyond, and helps them maintain their skill levels over time.

This helps builds self-esteem and substantially improves students' success in school. Best of all, many of these students will no longer need special-education programs and will be successful in the regular classroom setting.

Fast Fax, Cyberspace Speed

With Statehouse Update , it's our aim to bring you timely legislative information of interest to Purdue friends. To get it to you even faster, we'll be glad to fax it to you as each edition is written and printed. Simply call our West Lafayette office to add your name to our fax list. Also, computer users can access on-line text versions of current session editions at the World Wide Web address printed in the information box on the other side of this newsletter.

If you call our campus office, keep in mind that the area code for West Lafayette and much of central Indiana outside of the Indianapolis metropolitan area changed from 317 to 765 on February 1, although a five-month grace period is now in effect allowing the use of either area code.