Although the governor announced another round of state budget cuts in December, he again largely spared higher education, a trend administrators appreciate but are not sure can continue.
Gov. Ted Strickland ordered $640 million in cuts to maintain a balanced budget for this fiscal year, which ends June 30. These reductions come after Strickland already slashed $1.27 billion from the state budget this year. All of the cuts to date have mostly sheltered higher education while allowing state officials to keep a popular tuition freeze in effect.
Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, said in a statement that no Ohio governor has ever shown such a commitment to higher education.
Ohio University administrators were surprised the governor was able to spare colleges but said the announcement doesn't mean the end of OU's problems.
If we can continue to have the incredible support that we've had and get through
it makes the short-term planning much easier and gives us more time to be thoughtful in the long-term planning said Rebecca Watts, chief of staff to President Roderick McDavis. We still have hard hard decisions to make.
Among those potential decisions are administrative reorganizations that would involve merging or eliminating administrative positions and could go as far as combining some colleges with others. Watts said some colleges and departments have already taken steps, such as halting unnecessary travel, using less energy and stopping some job searches. The provost also suspended dean searches in the College of Health and Human Services and the Honors Tutorial College on Dec. 5.
Rebecca Vazquez-Skillings, assistant vice president for Budget Planning and Analysis, echoed Watts and emphasized that even though today's announcement was sensational news
it doesn't mean there won't be more cuts this year.
The announcement also does not affect a new two-year budget starting July 1, in which OU is planning for a deficit of between $20 million and $40 million.
What happens in the remainder of fiscal year 2009 is not a direct indicator of the upcoming budget
Vazquez said. I don't take it as a forecast of what to expect.
Michael Chaney, a spokesman for Fingerhut, also cautioned that the governor has not yet spoken about next year's budget.
The governor has made it clear that higher education is a priority
but in terms of specifics for the upcoming budget
I don't think we can draw any conclusions yet
Chaney said.
McDavis sent an e-mail statement to university employees in December discussing planning efforts. In it, the president said he set a $13.9 million one-time savings goal for this fiscal year, and has several work groups discussing long-term options. McDavis said Vision Ohio will be central to setting priorities as committees and departments discuss cuts.
In his statement, Strickland did specifically reference the tuition freeze that has been in place for the past two years. It will remain through this fiscal year, though it's fate after June is unclear. The decision will depend on the national economy and levels of federal aid to states, but top OU and state officials have said that it is unlikely the tuition freeze will carry forward another year. Strickland is expected to release next year's budget in January.
This round of budget cuts, as in previous rounds, will affect some programs at colleges and universities that receive special state funding. OU's College of Osteopathic Medicine, Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, and Success Grant programs are all facing cuts. Those programs received an $827,000 cut in September.
Wesley Lowery contributed to this article.
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