Purdue Statehouse Update
Purdue Statehouse Update
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A Purdue Newsletter on Legislative Issues
Making Headlines The first draft of this issue of Statehouse Update may well have needed extra editing work, since it was written groggy-eyed the morning after the Purdue women's basketball team became NCAA national champions. On and off the basketball court, there could be no finer representatives of our University! Beyond the thrill of the championship game, the next biggest headline of the week -- at least in legislative circles -- is the release of the Senate version of the biennial budget. There are a number of items in the Senate version that are improvements on the good start provided for higher education in the House version. Of course, that's not to say we don't prefer the House approach in certain areas. In this issue, we look at details of the Senate version as it relates to Purdue and Indiana higher education.
Inflationary Increases The Senate and the House apparently both appreciate the Indiana higher education community's concern with the ability to attract and retain our faculty and staff in today's competitive environment. The Senate budget continues the 4 percent increase for personnel that is in the House budget. Hopefully, this level of support will be maintained in the final budget. The Senate package does reduce the level of funding for S & E (supplies and expenses) from the House level. Funding for this category is pegged at a 2.5 percent increase in the House but reduced to 2 percent in the Senate.
Technology Funding It's now apparent the Legislature understands and appreciates the need for support for technology funding for state higher education. Both the House and Senate versions include funding for this vital category, but differ in their approach. The House version essentially provides for one-half of the current technology appropriation to be included as a recurring annual appropriation. The other half of the current one-time appropriation will continue to be available to the institutions on a non-recurring basis. The total of House-budget technology funding for all of higher education is $35 million for the first year and $36.5 million in year two. The Senate bill makes no provision for the dollars appropriated to higher education to be recurring. In other words, it's just for the 1999-2001 biennium. However, the Senate appropriates significantly more dollars in this area, $47.9 million and $65.2 million for the first and second years, respectively. These extra dollars are greatly appreciated. However, the continuing concern is that the one-time nature of this appropriation does not address the personnel needs associated with campus technology or the needs for continual equipment upgrades. The goal for the balance of the session, and the area of emphasis for all higher education institutions, will be to convert a portion of the Senate's one-time appropriation to a recurring basis.
Equity Adjustment for Regional Campuses You will recall from earlier issues of Statehouse Update that Purdue's budget request asked for additional funding for the three Purdue-administered regional campuses in order to bring their level of funding to the average of all regional campuses in the state. The House budget provides significant additional dollars to the Calumet campus but dramatically underfunds the request for the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) campus. The Senate approach is quite different because it appropriates no equity funding for Calumet but includes nearly $950,000 beginning in the second year for IPFW. The Senate version also includes $230,000 for the North Central campus. Our goal for the final budget will be to retain the Senate level of funding for IPFW and restore the appropriate levels for Calumet and North Central. We'll also work to move the regional campus equity funding to the first year of the biennium.
Cooperative Extension Service Funding Regular readers will know that acquiring state funds to replace declining federal appropriations has been an ongoing effort by Purdue and the Cooperative Extension Service's many constituents throughout Indiana. So far, perseverance pays! The House recognized this important need in its version of the budget with a $1 million appropriation to replace federal funds supporting county staff. The news is even better in the Senate, with full funding of our $2.8 million request. Extension supporters are urged to contact their legislators with a hearty thank-you for the efforts in both houses to deal with this issue. Clearly, the remaining effort here is to assure that the final version of the budget includes the full $2.8 million.
21st Century Growth Fund, Biomedical Research A proposal that continues to be of great interest to Indiana's research institutions is the proposed 21st Century Growth Fund. This is Gov. Frank O'Bannon's proposal to increase support for high-tech growth in Indiana's future economy. It is funded for $25 million per year for this biennium in the House budget, but the Senate version provides no dollars. However, there's continued interest in both houses in this concept. With continued support from the governor, it appears that there are good opportunities for this initiative to receive funding.
Disappointments Two areas that received no support from either house were expansion of statewide School of Technology programs and the Technical Assistance Program. Both of these initiatives have proven their value to the state and we are disappointed that they have not been fully funded.
Cautiously Optimistic As we've outlined, elements of both versions of the 1999-2001 state budget are very supportive of higher education. Over the next few weeks, it will be our task to give input to conference committee deliberations, which likely will get under way in mid-April. Adjustments that Purdue and other state higher education advocates will be suggesting for the conference committee could make this a good budget for Indiana's public colleges and universities as a new century approaches. Time will tell as the budget-year odyssey continues in the Legislature.
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