Lawmakers Cut Education Another Year Despite Rising Unemployment and Student Growth

Recovery Act funds alone could not shore up Georgia's education budgets. Lawmakers cut between 13 and 15 percent from K-12, University System, and Georgia's award-winning Technical College System budgets for the upcoming fiscal year compared to fiscal year 2009, before these recessionary cuts began.

Thousands of Georgians currently employed by the state education systems will be joining the ranks of Georgia's record unemployment numbers. These include not only teachers, but nurses, cafeteria supervisors, bus drivers, and custodians.

"These cuts affect students, faculty, and staff, but also local economies across the state," said Sarah Beth Gehl, author of the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute's latest analysis. "K-12 systems are one of the top 10 largest employers in every county in Georgia, and the number one largest in 96 counties."

In addition, 27 counties have a public post-secondary system among their top 10 employers, according to Department of Labor data.

The State Board of Education just eliminated class size limits for the upcoming school year to allow districts to manage state cuts. Additional conseqences will be more adjunct faculty at colleges and universities, salary cuts and furloughs, and reduced supportive services such as tutoring, advising, and professional development, as well as more drastic measures for certain institutions.

A few K-12 school systems have already moved to a four-day school week or shortened the school calendar from 180 days to 160 days.

Recovery Act funds were intended to give state lawmakers time to address their revenue declines from the Great Recession. "Although Georgia's budget deficit has been in the top 10 worst in the nation, lawmakers chose to rely heavily on cuts," said Gehl. "Georgia lawmakers did not take significant steps to shore up the state's revenue system for education."

Recovery Act funds for education run out in FY 2011, causing bigger holes in school funding even as Georgia's population of school age children increases, more displaced workers seek job training, and more young people seek post-secondary education in order to enter the workforce.

The report specifies the four limited options Georgia has for future budgets, as well as policy questions, such as:

How will communities balance these cuts? Will some communities be able to offset the cuts with local resources, while communities with limited means cannot?

One option that exists to give states another year of time to solve their budget problems is for Congress to pass amendments to the war/disaster supplemental bill to add $23 billion in emergency education funding -- effectively an extension of the Recovery Act's state fiscal stabilization fund. These funds would go to state governments and would help prevent education layoffs in Georgia and across the nation.

-----

www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter:  @GAFrontPage

Educators descend on State Capitol to highlight effects of budget cuts

Teachers, educational support professionals, and education leaders are coming from Savannah and Toccoa and Valdosta and Dalton and places in between to tell the stories of how education cuts are affecting their schoolchildren and classrooms throughout the state. “We want to send a message to our legislators about how our children and classrooms are being affected and how they would further be affected by additional paring of the education budget.” said GAE President Jeff Hubbard.

Saturday, January 23, 2010 – 1 p.m.
Steps of the State Capitol (Washington Street side)
Invest Today or Pay Tomorrow Rally

Buses will be leaving from various points around the state to join us at the Capitol. Below are the scheduled departure areas, times, and local media contacts.

Augusta Area
Big Lots, 3232 Wrightsboro Rd, Augusta
Departure time: 9 am
GAE Contact Deede Chatelain - 706-831-1052

Dalton Area
Dalton (Wal-mart at 8:30 am)
Cartersville Stop (Wal-Mart at 9:30 am)
GAE Contact Tana Page - 678-7795250

Savannah Area
Chatham County Assn. of Educators,
714 MLK Boulevard,
Savannah 31401
Departure time: 7 am

Statesboro Stop (Chevron at Hwy 301)
Departure Time: 8 a.m.
GAE Contact Joe Bell - 912-238-1752

Valdosta Area:
Wal-mart,
340 Norman Dr., Valdosta
Departure time: 7:30 am
GAE Contact Leeann Turano -229-438-1700

Macon Stop (Macon Mall/Lower Food Ct.)
Approximate time: 9:30 am
Albany Area:
Albany Mall (Dillard's Parking Lot)
2601 Dawson Road, Albany 30717
Departure time: 7:30 am
GAE Contact Rosa Ward - 229-438-1700

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter: @GAFrontPage

Chancellor Davis: University System Cannot Continue Business As Usual

University System of Georgia (USG) Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr., in his annual “State of the System” address to the Board of Regents today (January 12), evoked the challenges the first board faced in 1932 and said that to progress, the System cannot continue to do “business as usual.”

Davis called for a three-level response to the challenges posed by $323 million in budget cuts, record student enrollment and the end of $147 million in federal stimulus funding in 2012. “First, we will unleash the collective brainpower of this great System,” Davis said in outlining the three points. “Second, the Board of Regents will develop and set the key principles that will guide our institutions in their work and third, we will encourage our institutions to experiment with new ways of accomplishing our mission.”

With the creation of University System in the midst of the Great Depression, Davis said, “Gov. Richard Russell Jr. reinvented higher education in Georgia.” He said that that first board understood the need to invest in the future, despite the short-term economic crisis, and that the same philosophy holds true today.

The response to the economic situation, Davis said, must include an evaluation of the current academic model coupled with a back-to-basics approach. “It is going to be challenging to pay more attention to basics while at the same time calling for expanded innovation,” he said.

Institutional presidents must be given greater freedom to innovate and to collaborate with one another, Davis said. One of the areas of renewed focus will be on institutional missions. “I would prefer to see more institutions sharpening, honing and tightening their missions rather than seeking to expand them based upon institutional aspirations versus true state need,” he said. This may mean that some activities cease in order to align missions with reduced resources, Davis said.

Davis called upon the board to approve a set of principles that will be developed to guide the institutional presidents. “This work must begin immediately, as it is the most important step,” Davis said. He noted the development of principles would be a focus of subsequent board meetings this year.

These principles also will help direct innovation at the campus level, especially Davis said, among faculty. “We have over 40,000 minds out there that can address our challenges. Our faculty in particular have the capacity to blaze new ground,” he said.

The chancellor also gave a glimpse of some of the expected outcomes of this new approach to public higher education, which include best practices, some of which can be implemented System wide and some, which will be unique to an institution. He cautioned that along with some “stunning successes” would come some failures. “Remember, at one point Babe Ruth not only held the record for home runs, he held the record for strikeouts as well,” Davis said.

The full text of Davis’ remarks can be accessed at http://www.usg.edu/chancellor/speeches/chancellors_state_of_the_system_address_2010/

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow us on Twitter: @GAFrontPage

Regents Approve FY11 Budget Request, FY10 Reduction Plans

The Board of Regents yesterday approved the Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 budget request for the University System of Georgia (USG) that includes dollars to support new students as well as the regents’ strategic thrust to expand medical education. The budget request totals $2.2 billion, a 6.8 percent increase, or $140.7 million, over the original FY 2010 base budget of $2.08 billion. Separately from the request for new dollars, the board also took action to approve measures to meet ongoing budget reductions, including employee furloughs and changes to employee health benefit plans.

The regents also approved a FY11 capital budget request of $275.6 million, which includes $19.7 million in equipment for six new facilities, $6.5 million in infrastructure needs for two facilities, $157.9 million in new construction or renovation for 10 projects designed and ready to be built, $68.9 million in both design and construction funds for seven projects, and $22.6 million for the design only of 11 projects.

The capital request also includes $75 million in funds for major repair and rehabilitation of existing System facilities.

“We are working to serve a significant and ongoing increase in student enrollment with a financial resource base that is certainly not keeping up with the growth in our student population,” said Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr. “Our challenge is premised on the fact that Georgia will need all of the college graduates we can produce – and more. Georgia will need everyone it can find with the education to move this state forward and continue its economic vitality and growth.”

The board’s approval of changes in employee health benefit programs and mandatory employee furloughs were necessary, according to USG officials, to help meet a five percent withholding by the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget (OPB) of the System’s FY10 state cash allotments, which totals $115 million.

Along with all other state agencies, the USG was instructed by OPB to include with its budget request three reduction plans of four, six and eight percent. The three reduction plans, which include the three mandatory furlough days, total $94 million at the four percent level, $134 million at the six percent level and $176 million at the eight percent level.

Looking in detail at the FY11 budget request, the regents approved a request for $140.7 million in new dollars. This includes $107.8 million for student enrollment increases in fall 2008, $5.7 million in funds for the operation of new building space in the system, $21.3 million for increases in the employer share of health insurance premiums, $4.4 million in benefit costs for USG retirees, $900,000 to continue the Regents’ continued two-year-old effort to expand medical education, and $625,000 in new dollars for the Georgia Public Library Service.

Vice Chancellor for Fiscal Affairs Usha Ramachandran said that the increase of $107.8 million in the request is a function of the System’s funding formula, a mathematical formula that factors in student credit hours to arrive at needed state funding to support student instruction. “For the new budget request, the formula increase is based upon an enrollment increase of 5.6 percent, which generated an increase of 398,000 in the number of credit hours students took,” she said.

The new dollars, if recommended by the Governor and approved by the General Assembly, would provide critical state support for these new students. However the new funds are based on fall 2008 enrollment, not the students enrolled in fall 2010, when the funds will be available. “We appreciate the support of the Governor and the General Assembly for the formula funding, and recognize how important it is for us as stewards to be extremely efficient in the use of these dollars,” Ramachandran said.

The System-level reduction plans approved today by the regents spell out how reductions will be accomplished at each of the percentage levels requested by the Governor. While these three plans were approved in concept, the reality of the current five percent withholding of state funds required the board to approve today actions that will take place in the coming months to meet what is a new $115 million reduction in the USG’s FY10 state appropriation.

Therefore, the board approved six mandatory furlough days for faculty and staff. This will affect all 40,000 USG employees, except the lowest paid (annual salary of $23,660 or lower), and is the equivalent of up to a three percent pay cut. These six furlough days will be implemented over the remainder of the FY10 fiscal year, but will, according to Davis, not affect classes or employee retirement plans.

The board also approved changes in health insurance programs affecting almost 5,000 employees enrolled in the USG’s indemnity plan, which will be eliminated. Other changes will encourage retirees to move to Medicare Plan B, seed the high deductible PPO plan to encourage more employees to switch to this plan and make other structural changes in the System’s health insurance plans. These will go into effect this fiscal year.

These two changes – furloughs and health care plans – will generate $43.5 million of the $115 million currently being withheld and are part of the four, six and eight percent reduction plans that will be submitted to OPB. The remaining $71 million of the current $115 million being withheld from the USG will be generated at the institutional level and could include layoffs and new employee furloughs, internal reorganizations, an increased focus on energy conservation and the elimination of low-enrollment programs.

These actions at the system and institutional level will meet the $94 million four percent reduction plan amount.

To reach a six percent reduction level ($134 million) the System will:
Look to institutions to impose additional furloughs, new layoffs of employees, the elimination of positions and other actions institutions can identify to generate savings.

To reach the eight percent reduction level ($175 million) the System will:
In the spring semester of 2010 increase the institutional mandatory fee first implemented in January 2009 by $150 at the four research universities and some comprehensive institutions; by $100 at all other comprehensive four-year institutions; and by $75 at the state and two-year colleges. The changes to the mandatory fees will result in a cumulative total of $250, $175, and $125.
Place a moratorium on other institutional mandatory student fee increases with the exception of public-private venture projects for FY11.

“These are difficult reductions for all,” said Davis. “We are spreading the pain among our employees and withholding the direct financial pain to our students as an absolute, last resort. But we are committed to serving our students – all of our students – with continued high academic quality.”

Ramachandran was joined in presenting the budget recommendations by Linda Daniels, vice chancellor for Facilities, Wayne Guthrie, vice chancellor for Human Resources and Tom Scheer, associate vice chancellor for Life and Health Benefits.

Yesterday’s actions on the FY11 operating and capital budget requests now go to OPB for incorporation into the overall state budget recommendations the Governor will present to the General Assembly in January 2010. Any action regarding reductions at the four, six and eight percent levels will depend upon the final decisions by the Governor and General Assembly.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page

Georgia Regents Elevating Fundraising to New Level of Importance

When it comes to fundraising, Georgia is one of only seven states with two or more public universities ranked among the Top 100 university endowments, but there is plenty of room for Georgia’s public colleges and universities to further increase revenue in order to maintain the quality of the education they provide.

That’s the overarching conclusion of a report to the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (USG) by a task force charged with assessing the ability of the System’s institutions to raise private funds and proposing improvements. After hearing a presentation on the report today, the regents immediately embarked on invigorating the University System’s fundraising efforts by green-lighting the task force’s plan for improvements.

“With budget cuts becoming more and more inevitable, it is important for University System institutions to look to external funds to enhance their educational quality,” said Shelley Nickel, the University System’s associate vice chancellor for planning and implementation. “This report is the first of its kind. It gives us information we can use to build fundraising capacity so that we can continue to honor our commitment to the regents’ Strategic Plan goal to maintain affordability.”

“The report delivered to the board by the Task Force on Philanthropy contains a very systematic survey of what each University System institution is doing with regard to fundraising,” said task force Chair Dr. David Potter, president of North Georgia College & State University. “Information on fundraising in higher education is very limited, so this data is extremely valuable. It gives us a baseline from which to work on improvements and monitor our progress.”

Toward that goal, the Board of Regents today instructed the task force to proceed with a plan to set philanthropic targets for USG campuses. Campus presidents will negotiate their institutional fundraising targets with the University System Office and submit 2009-2012 institutional fundraising plans to Nickel’s office that will be incorporated into their annual performance reviews.

The task force also recommended:

establishing a Strategic Funding Initiative for Philanthropy to strengthen fundraising capacity (particularly at the state and two-year college sectors, where philanthropic endeavors are under-developed as compared to other sectors), with the goal of each campus having at least one full-time professional dedicated to philanthropy; and
having the board, the USG campuses and their affiliated foundations undertake initiatives, both individually and collectively, to provide resources to increase fundraising staffs and the capacity of USG institutions to conduct effective fundraising.

The report of the Task Force on Philanthropy cited an annual listing of college and university endowments in The Chronicle of Higher Education, noting that, for Fiscal Year 2007, Georgia Tech ranked 18th among public institutions on the list, with an endowment market value of $1.6 billion, and the University of Georgia ranked 35th with an endowment market value of $771 million. The University System’s total endowment market value for this period was $2.83 billion, and the research-university sector accounted for nearly 90 percent of this total.

-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page

Regents Take Action to Meet an Additional Two Percent Budget Cut

The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (USG) approved December 3rd in a special called meeting a change in health benefit plans for USG employees as well as a temporary fee for all USG students. The changes will help the System’s 35 colleges and universities meet an additional two percent reduction in the current Fiscal Year 2009 budget.

As a result of the board’s action today, as of Jan. 1, 2009, the employer contribution rate for health insurance for the System’s PPO and HMO health plans will be reduced from 75 percent to 70 percent. USG employees enrolled in these plans will thus pay increased premiums ranging from approximately $17 to $65 a month, depending upon the plan and number of individuals covered. The employer contribution rate for the Indemnity plan will be the same as the PPO plan. The employer rate for the System’s high deductible health plan will continue at its current level of 90 percent. This change will result in an additional $8 million in savings throughout the System.

Effective for the spring 2009 semester, all USG students will pay a temporary, one-semester fee: $100 at research universities and six other universities, $75 at most comprehensive universities, and $50 at two-year and state colleges. The fee will offset an additional $20 million in budget reductions at the institutions.

An additional $12 million in savings will occur as a result of instructions that allow all USG institutions to defer maintenance expenditures. This budget reduction measure initially was approved by the regents this past August and did not require additional approval in today’s meeting.

“These are difficult decisions,” said USG Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr. “The board’s action today will protect the System’s core teaching mission and maintain academic quality.”

The regents took action in August to reduce the System’s budget by six percent ($136 million), and also to approve contingency plans for additional reductions. Health care plans and the student fee were two components of these additional reduction plans.

-----
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page