USU, other Utah colleges hope for budget increase
The Utah legislative session, which will run until Feb. 28, could prove profitable for higher education this year for a variety of reasons.
Due to Utah’s thriving economy and an estimated $370 million (3.7 percent) increase in-state tax revenues, Utah State University and Utah’s other eight colleges and universities hope to get the Legislature’s attention and be the beneficiaries of a 13.1 percent budget increase.
“While we have been funding public education with higher increases, we have neglected the universities,” said Rep. Loraine Pace, a Republican from Utah’s 4th District, which includes part of Logan. “I have reminded my fellow legislators frequently that we have [students] in our colleges and universities who also need good educations as they prepare to go into the workforce. I would welcome a greater investment in higher education this year.”
Gov. Mike Leavitt’s fiscal year 2002 budget recommendation focuses on strengthening education. The governor recommends that public and higher education institutions receive 70.8 percent of the new funding, which comes chiefly from revenue surpluses and growth.
Nearly half of the revenue available is from one-time sources. As a result, the governor recommends spending the funds on one-time uses. His goal is to double the number of students graduating in majors related to engineering, computer science and technology in five years and triple the number in eight years.
To achieve this goal, Leavitt’s one-time funding includes nearly $92 million for new academic buildings, $4.2 million to purchase more equipment for students and $800,000 for a new loan program that will reward residents who pursue degrees in these fields and work in Utah after graduating.
If approved by legislators, Leavitt’s engineering initiative “will have a big impact on USU,” said Sen. Lyle Hillyard, a Republican representing Cache and Rich Counties. “The Engineering Building at USU is top on the list. I support the governor’s position.”
Leavitt’s plan would provide $24 million for a new engineering building. However, USU would be required to raise an additional $10 million in private funding.
A new heating plant may also be on its way.
“This cold winter will really tax the plant to the maximum,” Pace said. “Nearly $30 million is needed to finish what we have started. [But] I feel confident that we will be able to get the remaining funds to complete the heating-plant project.”
To bridge the gap between the higher education engineering initiative and public education, the governor plans to attract and retain highly qualified secondary teachers in mathematics, physics, chemistry, physical science and information technology.
“Public education’s angry that we would give the math and science teachers a bonus,” Hillyard said. “They want to not single out one group, but that is clearly where we have a need to find and retain these teachers.”
“It is difficult to help others understand that a research university of the quality we have in USU must pay more for the type of faculty needed,” Pace said. “It has been one of my concerns ever since I began serving in the Legislature that we are losing faculty members and administrators to other institutions out of state because we are not addressing the salary needs adequately.”
Another USU focus is the Board of Regents’ funding formula. Pace said the funding formula is “a step in the right direction.”
The formula includes compensation packages for teachers and attempts to satisfy inequities in teachers’ salaries in a number of ways. The formula proposes $9.5 million be spent for core support, a portion of which could be used to satisfy the inequity in USU’s faculties salaries.
The funding formula also aims to obtain equity in budgets of higher education institutions based on student-to-faculty ratios and workloads of the faculty.
Discussion over the higher-education budget continues, and the Legislature is attempting to draw on the best aspects of both the governor’s proposed budget and the Board of Regents’ funding formula.
“I doubt that the governor’s budget for higher education will pass as proposed,” Hillyard said. “But probably 90 to 95 percent of it will be adopted. There are always things that come up during a session that changes even what the governor wants.”