Purdue Statehouse Update

Statehouse Update Vol. 7, No. 1 January 17, 2000 A Purdue Newsletter on Legislative Issues Greetings From the Statehouse Happy New Year! As you read this first issue of Statehouse Update of the year 2000, the new session of the General Assembly is just under way. The issues facing Indiana legislators are quite familiar. Taxes and education typically are among the most prominent topics, and this year is no exception. The question of the timing of the next reassessment of property will continue to be front and center. Also, the future of ISTEP testing will receive significant attention. Here in the early going, every indication is that this session indeed will live up to its billing as a "short session," with most predictions promising adjournment by the end of February. If that’s the case, there will be limited opportunities for legislation to move through the system and pass into law. We speculate that the budget will not be opened, and there will be limited opportunities to deal with issues of interest to Purdue and other higher education interests in the state. Keeping Options Open However, in the event that opportunities do present themselves, Purdue will focus on several priorities. These essentially are requests that were not fully dealt with during last year’s budget-writing session, including three key capital projects – the boiler life extension and utilities systems expansion project for West Lafayette (1999-2001 requested amount: $21 million; authorized: $18,554,000), the West Lafayette Visual and Performing Arts Center (requested: $24 million; authorized: $20,750,000), and the Technology Building completion and Library-Student-Faculty (LSF) Building renovation at Purdue North Central (requested: $6.4 million; authorized: $3,555,000). Continuing Technology Demands In 1999, the Legislature provided generous funding to all of higher education for information technology. While this is most helpful in giving our students better access to the kinds of programs and technology they will need to be competitive in the 21st century job market, a related, persistent challenge must be addressed. The bulk of the appropriation to Purdue was "one-time funding" for this biennium only. That’s certainly helpful for expenditures such as new equipment, but is of limited value in addressing the ongoing costs associated with high-technology access and instruction. We have serious concerns about our ability to hire the people necessary to operate computer systems and the ongoing costs associated with database subscriptions, and system maintenance and upgrades. We intend to advance the argument that some portion of these technology dollars would be much more useful to the University with some assurance that they would be available on a continuing basis. How are the allocated funds being used? For the West Lafayette campus, 1999-2000 expenditures for computing technology total $9,407,055 and break down like this: Equipment – $5,013,000 Software – $1,672,500 Renovations – $825,570 Salaries – $1,727,985 Other – $168,000 Priority issues in computing technology include: • Technology in the classroom – equipping classrooms and laboratories with telecommunication and videoconferencing capabilities. • Electronic access to information – expanding the electronic library through additional subscriptions to national and international databases and journals. Replace and upgrade library systems. • Open undergraduate computing labs – retrofitting to create new computing labs, including equipment, and replacement or upgrade of equipment in existing labs. • Specialized school and department instructional labs – replacing and upgrading computing equipment in those specialized labs managed by academic units. • PACE, MMDC and Purdue Data Network – supporting the Purdue Academic Computing Environment and the Multimedia Instructional Development Center to provide grants and assistance to faculty to incorporate technology into their classroom instruction. Improvements to off-campus connectivity and upgrades to on-campus networks and telecommunication equipment to allow use of advanced video and audio. • Administrative computing systems development – continuing development of new student information and human resource systems. Purdue and Economic Development Another issue we intend to focus on during the 2000 General Assembly is Purdue’s growing role as a vital player in Indiana’s economic-development strategy. With the start-up of new facilities at the Purdue Research Park dedicated to the development of new high-tech companies, there’s significant interest in ways in which Purdue’s experiences and expertise can be fully utilized statewide. There may well be legislative proposals that come forward that would provide for an expanded role for Purdue in this arena. Purdue administrators have had numerous discussions with a variety of state government officials on this topic. We continue to press the idea that Purdue’s role in state economic development is very much part of the University’s modern land-grant mission to offer assistance in enhancing the state’s future well-being. Your Turn Should you have the opportunity to communicate with a legislator your support for these issues, we would certainly be appreciative. Our first point of communication is to continue to offer our appreciation to legislators for their support last year. Funding for higher education certainly was among the best that we have enjoyed in a number of years. Secondly, we hope lawmakers will recognize that in order to maintain first-rate institutions, we must sustain this level of investment. As we begin the new year and the new century, our sincere thanks for your support in the past. We look forward to significant new accomplishments on behalf of our University and our state in 2000 and beyond. To Statehouse Update Home Page