Budget plan may forestall funding woes

After weeks of fearing a state budget proposal that would have frozen the University's state funding for two years, administrators breathed a sigh of relief Tuesday.\nA new budget proposal cleared the House Ways and Means Committee, bringing a spending package to the house floor that includes a 3.8 percent increase for higher education.\nThe two-year, $21 billion package was approved by a 24-1 vote of the committee. The additional funds for higher education will be split between Indiana's public universities and colleges.\nSusan Dillman, University spokeswoman, said specific funding for IU was included in the bill. She said the bill allocates bonding authority for the Multidisciplinary Science Building and $4.5 million for the School of Informatics.\n"The increases that IU got are a little hard to track because some are lumped together as higher education funding," Dillman said. "It's encouraging."\nForty million dollars from gambling money was also approved for university technology uses. Dillman said the money will be divided among all public institutions, and she said she did not know how the state will make those allocations work.\nGov. Frank O'Bannon announced on Jan. 8 his budget plan, which included freezing higher education funding for two years.\nThad Nation, O'Bannon's spokesman, said palthough Tuesday's bill varies from the governor's, O'Bannon supports the new version.\n"We always said from the beginning that the budget initially presented was a starting point," Nation said. "One of the governor's top priorities has always been to fund education. I think you saw the result of it today."\nNation stressed the bipartisan support the bill received Tuesday.\n"Today you saw it pass the House Ways and Means Committee with strong bipartisan support," Nation said. "Comments made today by both Democrats and Republicans, in both the House and the Senate, were very positive."\nIn a written statement, IU President Myles Brand praised past legislative monetary support and asked the representatives to continue that tradition.\n"The Indiana General Assembly has been very helpful in the past, and, for that, we are grateful," Brand said. "To build on the progress we have made, however, Indiana University needs the increases in operating funds, the money for technology and the funding for capital projects that this proposal would provide.\n"While we recognize this may be a tight budget year, we urge investment in higher education and in Indiana's future."\nThe bill now travels to the full House, and if passed, to the Indiana Senate for review. Nation said he did not expect any major changes to the bill.\n"I think the bill we saw today will be the basic framework," Nation said.