Officials Worry Classroom Cuts May Go Too Far

Last week, the N.C. General Assembly Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Education requested that UNC-system officials present a plan to cut 7 percent from the system's recurring budget -- a total of about $125 million.

The request is one of many that appropriations committees have made of state agencies in the legislature's ongoing struggle to construct a budget in the wake of an $800 million budget deficit and a downturn in the state economy.

Jeff Davies, UNC-system vice president for finance, said all 16 system schools were asked by UNC-system President Molly Broad to protect undergraduate programs first, followed by graduate and professional schools.

Davies said the 16 schools followed these recommendations as best they could by proposing cuts in administrative areas and equipment lines. But he added that if cuts of this magnitude were carried out, the schools could not absorb them without the elimination of both faculty and nonfaculty positions.

Davies also said cuts could cause serious damage to instruction across the UNC system. "There are reductions of faculty proposed at all of (the campuses)."

Many of the proposed cuts also call for drastic reductions in library, distance education and classroom supplies funding.

Sen. Walter Dalton, D-Rutherford, co-chairman of the education subcommittee, said they will now begin the process of reviewing the proposed cuts submitted by the UNC system. "We'll be taking suggestions from advisers, committee members and the public," he said. "I would hope and think that we would not be looking at substantial faculty reductions."

Dalton added that all proposed cuts in the UNC system hinge on revenue projections based on state tax returns filed by April 15. He said the budget deficit could become much smaller, stay the same or become larger once the revenue projections are out. "We're all praying that it will be lower."

Even if the subcommittee adopts the recommendations, they must still be approved by the full Appropriations Committee and the full Senate.

But Sen. Hamilton Horton, R-Forsyth, who is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he disagrees with cutting faculty positions.

Instead of cutting faculty positions, Horton proposes cutting positions inside the UNC-system General Administration office.

"I've always favored a look at President (Molly) Broad's office," he said. "They've got more vice presidents than General Motors."

There are about 30 vice presidents, associate vice presidents and assistant vice presidents working in the General Administration office, which conducts research on issues concerning higher education and serves an advisory function to the Board of Governors.

Horton said he wants legislators to study the effectiveness of these positions before making faculty cuts. "(By cutting positions in the Office of the President), you could cut expenses without going into the classroom," Horton said. "There is fat galore, and it's not all in the classroom."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.