Return to Table of ContentsIndiana lawmakers may not reconvene for their special session until June, but Indiana University President Myles Brand and other top administrators are working hard until then to encourage greater state funding for higher education.
The Indiana General Assembly was unable to meet its April 29 deadline in passing a state budget. The proposed budget contained less than what IU and other state-supported higher education institutions had been seeking.
The Senate voted 35-15 in favor of the conference committee's budget, but House members were deadlocked 50-50 along party lines. Everyone now waits for Gov. Frank O'Bannon to set a date for the special session.
The latest budget proposal for higher education and IU was 1 percent below the Indiana Commission for Higher Education's recommendation for operating expenses. It contained increases for operating expenses of 3.4 percent in the first year and 3.7 percent in the second year, and a one-time 1 percent increase for technology.
This is the level of funding approved by the House in its version of the budget bill. The Senate version had increased operating expenses to 4.4 percent. However, the latest version of the budget does include a proposal to fund all of the capital projects recommended by the commission. These include the IUB Theater/Neal Marshall Center, the completion of a new building for the IU School of Law-Indianapolis, renovation of the existing Law School building to accommodate the Herron School of Art and partial funding for a new IU School of Business building in Bloomington.
"Right now, we are very disappointed with the outcome of the conference committee, because the budget is well below what we had requested, what the Commission on Higher Education had requested and what the Senate had approved," said Christopher Simpson, IU vice president for public affairs and government relations.
"This disappointment is magnified because of the strong economic climate in the state and the fact that the state has a budget surplus of nearly $2 billion.
"We're very pleased with the capital budget, particularly with the inclusion of the Theater/Neal Marshall Educational Center. We've been working on that project for more than 10 years," Simpson added. "But the obvious problem is it's the operating budget that keeps the lights on and the water running ŠWe're hurt by a very modest operating budget."
Since the session concluded, Brand and other top IU officials have been meeting with key legislative leaders to make the case for higher education and to develop strategies for encouraging lawmakers to increase its funding. "That effort will continue up to and throughout the special session," Simpson said.
"It's going to be difficult in this environment to get a substantial increase above the House level," observed Donald Weaver, IU director of state relations. "However, the president and other administrators will be doing everything they can to enhance this budget, despite the odds...At this point, we'd be delighted to get back to the Senate level."
Everyone in the university community is encouraged to contact legislators and the governor to restore the operating request for higher education to the level approved by the Senate.