Legislators Discuss 8.2 Percent Cuts for Education

RALEIGH -- Members of the Joint Appropriations Education Subcommittee met formally for the first time Wednesday to discuss the extent of budget cuts that might need to be made to the UNC system.

Legislators examined the possibility of cutting as much as $90 million -- or about 5 percent of the UNC system's budget -- when the N.C. General Assembly convenes this summer to build a budget for the next fiscal year.

The cuts are part of a budget cut plan discussed Wednesday by legislators that aims to cut $695 million from state education agencies, which includes not only the UNC system but also public schools and community colleges.

The proposed cut amounts to an 8.2 percent budget reduction to the education budget for the 2002-03 fiscal year. Education funding makes up close to 60 percent of the state's budget.

Most of the meeting was spent in preliminary discussion of both the state's fiscal outlook and the extent of the cuts that need to be made to education.

The General Assembly is scheduled to reconvene in early May, but legislative budget leaders have begun to meet early to prepare for the massive budget cuts the legislature will be forced to make this summer.

The cuts are an effort by state legislators to close a hole of well over $1 billion in next year's budget.

Gov. Mike Easley has recommended that legislators cut only $256.5 million from education -- a reduction of 3 percent. The UNC system's share of that cut would be $70.6 million -- a cut of 3.9 percent.

Easley has repeatedly stated over the course of the last few months that he would make sure that budget cuts did not harm classroom instruction.

Jim Newlin, a fiscal analyst for the General Assembly, said Easley is determined to protect classrooms from budget cuts.

"(Easley) has threatened to veto any cuts that affect the classroom," he said.

But Newlin added that damage to the classroom is inevitable because of the severity of the state's budget shortfall.

The budget cuts will affect the classroom because a high percentage of education funds are allocated to personnel, Newlin said.

"That's going to be an enormous task, especially with 95 percent of funding going to (educational) personnel," he said. "If we don't cut funding to personnel, including classroom personnel, we would have to cut other state agencies, including (the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services) or Medicaid."

UNC-system officials said the budget cuts will hurt the 16 UNC-system campuses, which already have been hit hard by the state's projected $900 million budget deficit for the current fiscal year.

"(The UNC system) has been asked to revert $63 (million) to $64 million this year," said Jeff Davies, UNC-system vice president for finance.

Davies added that UNC-Chapel Hill already has plans to reduce specific programs, including library acquisitions.

He said one consequence of decreased funding will be less money to deal with increasing UNC-system enrollment.

"These reversions are occurring when there is a substantial growth at the university," Davies said.

The General Assembly was able to provide $40 million for the system's enrollment growth for the 2001-02 school year.

But UNC-system officials enrolled 1,600 more students than originally anticipated. UNC-system officials expect enrollment to increase by 5,400 students next fall.

All told, UNC-system officials say they will need $66 million in funding to deal with the enrollment growth.

The UNC-system Board of Governors approved in March a tuition increase of 8 percent for in-state students and 12 percent for out-of-state students to fund about half of the enrollment growth. It is unclear if legislators will be able to fund the remaining $33 million.

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