State legislators discuss issues facing education institutions in the state
State legislators discussed the challenges of balancing a statewide budget and the needs of higher education with USU faculty and staff on campus Monday.
“Remarkable,” said legislator of 10 years Fred Hunsaker (R-Logan). “This year has been like none other.”
The three visiting legislators discussed funding university employee salaries, new buildings and the cost of tuition. They all said they felt they were able to take care of some long-term needs the state hasn’t been able to help in previous years. But, they were not unaware of ever-present needs.
“I recognize we’re way behind on our salaries,” said Hunsaker, who worked for USU for seven years. “If we don’t pay close to market (prices) then we lose people.”
When Hunsaker worked at USU, he said the salaries came from six different sources. Now, 25 percent comes from student tuition and 75 percent from state taxes.
The Legislature approved a 3.5 percent salary raise to offset the rise in cost of living. There was an additional 1.5 percent raise to be awarded at the discretion of university administration based on employee performance, Hunsaker said. Sen. Lyle Hillyard (R-Logan), the final speaker of the event, said as few as 20 to 40 employees will benefit from the 1.5 percent increase.
“I have great respect having worked with you for so many years,” Hunsaker said to the gathered employees. “How critical you are to making this university run.”
Hillyard also addressed any effects the newly approved Utah Valley University, formerly Utah Valley State College, will have on the state’s other four-year universities. Calling the $8 million appropriated for the new university a “drop in the bucket from what they need,” he explained the duty he felt to not only provide for his hometown’s university but also for the state as a whole.
Quoting former Gov. Norman Bangerter, he said, “‘The easiest budget in the world to cut is the one you know the least.'”
Referring to USU, he said, “We attract a different type of student.” UVU will garner those students in Utah Valley who either “can’t or don’t want to” attend Brigham Young University. USU gathers many rural students from around the valley who can’t always live at home and save rent money. He expressed some frustration with other universities’ enforcement of residency requirements but said USU’s Registrar’s Office is the “most stringent on requirements.”
Jack Draxler, a freshman Republican representative in the state House from North Logan, discussed House Bill 118, which will go into effect July 1. The bill allows state institutions of higher education to determine their own in-state tuition requirements. Draxler said he was more than happy to sponsor the bill when Hillyard suggested it to him.
Hillyard, who began serving in the state Legislature in 1981, said he got himself put on the public education appropriation committee because he felt there was a lot he could help with. He helped appropriate $50 million for computers in public schools. The “thrust” of this year’s 45-day legislative session, he said, was public education – not higher education, although he said he feels they were able to accomplish a lot for higher education as well.
One of those accomplishments was increasing funding for scholarships.
Originally, only $2.5 million was appropriated for university scholarship funds. Hillyard advocated $20 million be set aside and gain interest but was only able to acquire an additional $2.5 million more.
One of the things characterizing this year, he said, was the availability of
more than average amounts of one-time use money. With this surplus, Hillyard helped acquire $2.5 million for the planning of a new agricultural building he hopes will be built on the site of the former Merrill Library.
The surplus also brought “lots of new, unheard groups” asking for money. The Legislature was faced with many hard decisions on where to spend the extra
money. One man, he said, actually called and suggested the Legislature pay the remaining cost on his home mortgage.
-jfullmer@cc.usu.edu