UNC-system funding may increase

UNC-system officials are hopeful that they might reclaim some state funding as lawmakers discuss budget revisions.

But legislators might not be able to provide for all the system’s requests.

UNC administrators are working in Raleigh to gain more funding as the N.C. General Assembly revises the state’s biennial budget, which was passed into law in June 2011 for the fiscal years 2011 through 2013. The state usually revisits its budget before the second fiscal year commences.

The UNC system requested more than $216 million in additional funding from the state in its March report on budget priorities.

But legislators are expected to vote on a budget that increases funding by $10.5 million, Rep. Hugh Blackwell, R-Burke, said. The vote is expected to take place after press time and results will be posted online at http://www.dailytarheel.com.

Gov. Bev Perdue released a budget proposal in early May that provides $140 million in additional funding to the UNC system, said Charles Perusse, vice president for finance at the UNC system.

Perusse said most of the UNC-system Board of Governors’ priorities are addressed in Perdue’s proposal.

“We are certainly appreciative that Gov. Perdue’s proposed budget acknowledges the importance of higher education and UNC to the state’s future,” Joni Worthington, spokeswoman for the system, wrote in an email.

Hannah Gage, chairwoman of the UNC-system Board of Governors, said the legislature’s proposed budget — which is currently being debated in the House — does not fund many of the board’s priorities.

“It’s hard to decipher what’s going on with the House budget but on the surface, it appears that it does not fund our primary enrollment growth needs, nor all of our need based financial aid,” Gage wrote in an email.

But Blackwell said it was not possible to increase funding by the amount proposed in Perdue’s budget because it calls for a statewide tax hike.

“This is not the time to put more taxes on people,” Blackwell said.

Perusse said by his calculations, the House budget proposal would decrease state appropriations to the UNC system by $4 million.

But Blackwell said all the major reductions in the House’s budget merely remove state funding from programs that don’t need it.

“Our cuts focus on programs that don’t need taxpayer dollars so we can give more to programs that benefit students,” Blackwell said.

Perusse said he did not anticipate any major changes to programs or tuition if funding is cut because tuition has been set for the 2012-13 year.

Worthington wrote in an email that the budget debate is ongoing.

“As the budget process unfolds in the weeks ahead, we will continue to work with legislative leaders in both chambers to build support for the boards’ priorities,” Worthington wrote.

Students from across the system are joining the debate in Raleigh.

“There is only so much more you can put on students,” said UNC-Chapel Hill Student Body President Will Leimenstoll.