Higher Ed off budget cut block?

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Higher Ed off budget cut block?
By Rose Velazquez/Manship School News Service
BATON ROUGE— Lawmakers in a town hall forum at the LSU Law Center Thursday night suggested that higher education’s current monetary vulnerability might be solved by taking its funding process off the perennial legislative chopping block through constitutional changes.
The Louisiana Legislative Preview 2017, presented by the LSU Law Student Bar Association, brought together seven state lawmakers and officials to answer questions regarding a range of issues, though the conversation focused primarily on higher education funding.
The outcome of the Legislature’s 2017 special session, which concluded Feb. 22, and its implications for the future of higher education funding, got things rolling.
Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne said a “huge takeaway” was lawmakers’ reluctance to authorize the use of the full $109 million from the Budget Stabilization Fund, nicknamed the Rainy Day Fund, as requested by Gov. John Bel Edwards in his initial plan to resolve the state’s $300 million budget gap.
“Had the Legislature been willing to spend that entire Rainy Day Fund, we would not see the cuts that are now having to be imposed, particularly in the health care arena and in other areas,” Dardenne said. “It was the first time legislators balked at using the Rainy Day Fund, which might be very unfortunate.”
Sen. Dan Morrish, R-Jennings, said it is important to acknowledge the fact that funding for secondary and higher education was not reduced during the special session, though both were on the table, especially among lawmakers who believe “education has enough money, they don’t need anymore.”
“Had we not utilized the Rainy Day Trust Fund, you would’ve seen higher education take a huge hit once again, and I know that many of us have dug in our heels and said no more cuts to higher education,” Rep. Ronnie Johns, R-Lake Charles, said.
But the people of Louisiana have consistently voted to dedicate other funding areas through constitutional amendments, which has put higher education at a disadvantage when it comes time to make cuts, Dardenne said.
Rep. Steve Carter, R-Baton Rouge, noted that because of the current constitutional protections, there is only about $3.9 billion leftover for lawmakers to work with. With much of that money coming from the Minimum Foundation Program for K-12 education, higher education and health care are the only two vulnerable areas remaining.
Carter said the regular session will see a bill from Rep. Neil Abramson, D-New Orleans, which would propose calling a constitutional convention during which lawmakers would be place permanent protections on higher education and health care.
Though Carter acknowledged that changing the state constitution will be difficult because no one wants to give up his or her protected funds, he said he expects the bill to pass the House of Representatives, and Sen. JP Morrell, D-New Orleans, agreed that it has a chance of surviving the session.
“It’s always a challenge because anytime you go to the constitution to try to change it, people that are protecting the constitution are going to oppose it, but I think it’s something we need to look at,” Morrell said.
Another potential solution proposed in previous legislative sessions, which Carter said he has supported, has been to close or merge some of Louisiana’s public universities.
However, Morrell emphasized that while such a solution might help solve a budget crisis four or five years down the road, it would do little to solve the state’s immediate financial issues.
“There’s a lot of challenges. It’s totally a topic of discussion as long as it’s a statewide discussion and we do it in the context of understanding it does not create any immediate savings.”