Gov. Daniels cuts $150M from higher ed

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels announced a 6 percent cut in higher education funding across the state on Friday.

The call for the current decrease, which is about $150 million, came after state revenue for November fell $144 million short of a May forecast. So far this fiscal year, Indiana is $475 million below projections.

Now the state is looking to the seven public universities to help offset some of
that shortfall.

The state’s Commission for Higher Education will decide during the next 30 days what the spending cuts will include at each school.

It is not clear yet how the cut will affect IU, MacIntyre said.

“Still, given what is going on, that’s a relatively small amount,” IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said.

IU has already received a 4.5 percent cut in total state operating appropriations for fiscal year 2010 and another 1.5 percent for fiscal year 2011, a total of $29.3 million, according to the IU 2009-10 Budget Proposal to the Trustees of IU by President Michael McRobbie.

The state’s efforts to reduce its spending, including a 10 percent cut to state agencies announced last month, are aimed to preserve the $1.3 billion surplus from the start of the fiscal year in July.

This is not the first time recently IU has had to respond to a decrease in state funding.

During the summer, IU received a 4.5 percent cut for this fiscal year and a 1.5 percent cut for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

IU responded by freezing salaries and increasing tuition by almost 5 percent for the current and next school years.

Daniels also announced there will be a new revenue forecast on Dec. 15.

Presidents and administrators at the seven public universities will be working with the state’s higher education commission in the coming days.

“While many of these changes are being driven by current fiscal realities, our challenge is to achieve permanent cost savings, not simply short-term relief,” said Teresa Lubbers, commissioner on higher education funding, in a press release.

McRobbie responded to news of the cuts Friday morning with a statement.

“We have been asked by state officials to work closely with them in determining how these cuts will be allocated among the state’s public institutions of higher education, and we will certainly do so,” McRobbie said in the statement.

MacIntyre said IU understands the difficult circumstances of the current economy and appreciates the governor’s hold on cutting higher education as long as he could.

McRobbie stressed the vital role IU plays in the life of the state.

“Our faculty, staff and students have made great strides in moving this institution forward in recent years, and it is vital to the state, as well as to Indiana University, that we are able to preserve and build on these gains,” he said.