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Legislative News

Kentucky Post
February 24, 2004

$5M a shaky promise

FRANKFORT -- When Gov. Ernie Fletcher unveiled his budget, many were pleased to hear he'd included $5 million to help institutions like Northern Kentucky University.

The money, Fletcher said in his budget address, would be used to end "the funding disparity at our regional universities."

But the actual budget language isn't quite as precise, and that has some officials concerned the $5 million would be spread too thin to make a difference.

"We are going to do a little bit for a lot of people and the consequence for NKU is not going to be much," NKU President James Votruba told Northern Kentucky business leaders in a meeting two weeks ago.

The budget text reads simply that this money will be allocated in fiscal year 2006 and used "to address funding disparities among the institutions." The governor empowered the Council on Postsecondary Education to determine how the funds would be doled out.

Republican Rep. Jon Draud of Edgewood acknowledged that there would probably be efforts to stretch the $5 million among all universities.

"If they do that, it doesn't help Northern," said Draud, who has taught at the university.

Sen. Katie Stine, whose district includes NKU, said equalizing benchmark funding was one of the most important issues facing Northern. Unlike other Northern Kentucky lawmakers, the Fort Thomas Republican said the budget language is clear.

"When you talk about funding disparity -- to me that means institutions that are not treated fairly with funding and that are behind their benchmarks."

The CPE has not yet announced how it would distribute the funds. In hearings, CPE President Tom Layzell has said the council was looking at giving it to institutions with double-digit enrollment increases.

Numbers released by the council on enrollment growth indicate that four institutions -- Morehead State University, Murray State University, NKU and Western Kentucky University -- experienced double-digit enrollment growth in the last five years.

WKU in Bowling Green experienced the biggest growth, according to CPE, with an increase of 3,509 students in five years. That's a jump of 23.6 percent. NKU in Highland Heights had the second-highest overall increase of 18.2 percent with 2,146 more students on campus in the last five years. Morehead State in the mountains of Morehead had the third highest increase, adding 1,246 students in five years for an increase of 15.1 percent.

An even greater growth is evident in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, which consists of 16 districts with 62 campuses open or under construction. Included in this system is Gateway Community and Technical College in Northern Kentucky. The CPE has enrollment at KCTCS jumping 58.2 percent in the last five years by adding 26,494 students.

Fletcher spokesman Wes Irvin said the governor's intent was for these funds to be used for NKU and WKU.

Said Irvin: "That is what he had in mind but nothing has been earmarked, and it is ultimately up to the CPE to determine how it will be distributed."

Northern Kentucky lawmakers are hoping the CPE will consider the governor's wishes as it determines where the money goes.

Rep. Charlie Walton, R-Florence, said Fletcher has made it very clear that he wants the inequities addressed. In the Senate, Dick Roeding said the language should be altered to specify that the funds be directed to regional universities. The Lakeside Park Republican said: "I want to point the money to where it is supposed to go."

Layzell said CPE was "trying to find the most equitable treatment" for dispersing the funds.

If NKU's funding disparities aren't addressed, the university will surely fall behind, Votruba told members of the House Education Committee earlier this week.

The need for more money at NKU is further enhanced by the needs of the region, which has also seen rapid growth in recent years. NKU will not be able to effectively serve the region if it remains underfunded, he said.

"From a public policy perspective, it makes no sense to have one of Kentucky's prime economic regions served by its most underfunded and under-built university," Votruba said.

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The Independent
February 20, 2004

Another Increase
More cuts in state funding mean tuition again will rise sharply

Editorial
As expected, new funding cuts in higher education proposed in Gov. Ernie Fletcher's budget will hit college students — or their parents — squarely in the pocketbook How much so? Quite a bit if the University of Kentucky is any indication.

UK President Lee Todd told a group of legislators that tuition could jump 15 percent next fall as the school tries to make up for budget cuts, University President Lee Todd said.

Even that will not be enough to make up for the reductions in state funding, Todd said. A 15 percent hike would generate about $15 million, or less than half of an additional $33 million UK needs to operate next year. A small 2 percent pay increase for faculty and staff would cost an additional $14 million, Todd said.

UK hiked tuition 15 percent last fall to help compensate for cuts made by the 2003 General Assembly. Tuition increased by similar amounts at the University of Louisville, the regional universities and community and technical colleges.

Expect the same to happen this year, making it more difficult for those from families with modest means to attend college. While college enrollment now is at record levels in Kentucky, that positive trend won't continue if tuition rates continue to soar. In a state that already has one of the nation's lowest percentages of college graduates, Kentucky needs to be encouraging more young people to seek a higher education, not discouraging them by making it more costly.

A year ago, legislators acted surprised and dismayed by the sharp increases in tuition rates, but by reducing higher education spending in order to avoid a tax increase, they made the choice of shifting more of the cost of a higher education from taxpayers to students. They are making the same choice this year, and it is going to impact the finances of every student at a state-supported university or community and technical college.

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Paducah Sun
February 18, 2004

Area educators take some credit for budget boost

Area superintendents would like to think $27 million in additional state education funding announced Monday is connected to their presentation on the effects of proposed budget cuts last week.

"But I don't know how much one had to do with the other," said Caldwell County Superintendent Bob Rogers, who compiled budget estimates presented at a superintendents' press conference Thursday in Frankfort. Rogers showed that western Kentucky schools would lose more than $14.4 million in funding mandated salary increases and in cuts to professional development training, safe schools programs, extended school services, preschools and family resource centers in the proposed state budget.

He will return to Frankfort on Thursday to present legislators with similar estimates for all Kentucky schools.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher announced Monday that he would use $27 million earmarked for school employees' health insurance to restore funding for professional development and gifted and talented programs. More employees declined to take the state health coverage than was expected, he said.

The additional funding will include $14 million for professional development, $1.4 million for gifted and talented programs and $1.3 million for new buildings at Kentucky Community and Technical College System schools through 2005-06.

"Maybe we brought attention to it," said Rogers, whose district stood to lose $38,316 in professional development funds. "For whatever reason, I'm glad they found the money. Professional development is one of the keys to success for schools."

It appears that professional development and gifted programs will get the same amount of funding they received under the current budget, minus the 2.5 percent cut announced in December, Ballard County Superintendent Steve Hoskins said.

"It makes a statement of the governor's priorities. We'd like to think we had something to do with that," Hoskins said, noting that the superintendents don't know how the money will be doled out to the districts. "We're counting every dollar now, so every dollar we get back counts."

Paducah finance officer Julie Huff said it is doubtful the district's annual professional development and gifted budgets, totaling around $100,000, will be fully restored.

"But we'll take it," she said. "We'll take whatever he's willing to give us. Getting money back is always better than having it taken away."

McCracken County Superintendent Tim Heller said the superintendents are grateful but it's too early to guess whether to the new money will benefit students.

"We just hope he finds more," said Heller, whose schools would lose $126,000 in cuts from professional development during the next two years. "We hope he finds enough to fund the 1.5 percent mandate," Heller said of the salary increase districts are expected to fund next year. The raise will cost west Kentucky schools more than $2.7 million, including $450,000 from McCracken County. "We're watching this very closely. We just have to be frugal and conservative in our spending."

West Kentucky Community and Technical College public relations director Janett Blythe said the $1.3 million provided to the state's community and technical college system will not benefit Paducah's campus. The money will be spent on maintenance and operation costs for new buildings opening statewide this year, Blythe said.

"It's excellent news," she said, "but it doesn't affect us because we have no new buildings."

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Herald-Leader
February 18, 2004

Fletcher in denial
Budget cuts will retard education progress

Editorial
Gov. Ernie Fletcher is giving a respectable new sheen to one of Kentucky's oldest and worst instincts -- namely, that education is a waste.

We know Fletcher doesn't mean to convey such a self-defeating message and that he understands he can't achieve his economic goals without educating more Kentuckians and advancing university research.

But no matter how unintended, Fletcher is sending anti-education messages as he struggles to justify his education spending cuts.

It would be better for the governor just to level with Kentuckians. He should admit that honoring his no-tax pledge means sucking the momentum out of Kentucky's recent acceleration in education performance.

But instead of admitting that his unprecedented $65 million raid on higher education means delaying or even abandoning the goal of elevating Kentucky's universities to national stature, he says higher education can surely find some waste to eliminate.

Instead of admitting that the merged community and technical college system can't maintain the quality of its offerings on $890 less in state funding per student than it received five years ago, he applauds this opportunity to reduce inefficiencies.

Listening to his people, you'd think that the budget reserves that public school districts maintain are unsightly globs of fat instead of savings to pay for buses, buildings and emergencies.

And instead of admitting that without more money, there's no choice but to slash and hack away at the Kentucky Education Reform Act, Fletcher's education secretary says those programs aren't proven anyway.

"Anecdotal evidence is insufficient for millions of dollars,'' Education Secretary Virginia Fox told The Courier-Journal of Louisville.

Surely, Fox and Fletcher don't dismiss the improved performance of Kentucky students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress as anecdote. No education expert we know of dismisses the increases as insignificant. Another sign that school reforms are yielding real results is the dramatic increase in college enrollment of recent years.

For a while, the Fletcher folks pledged to cut only programs that don't directly affect the classroom. But every program they want to cut -- pre-school, extra help for kids who are falling behind, teacher professional development, family resource centers -- is directly aimed at increasing student learning and teacher effectiveness.

Taking $27 million from teacher benefits to restore some of the school cuts, as Fletcher is doing, is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Except for a few bright periods, Kentucky was perfectly content for more than a century to neglect and underfund education -- until KERA and the other education reforms of the 1990s.

And even with the reforms left intact, Kentucky needs to spend more to catch up with better-educated states.

If Fletcher won't raise more money to maintain the progress in education, he should at least be honest about what's being lost.

The governor promised a new day. But a politician refusing to ask Kentuckians to pay for better education is as old as Kentucky itself.

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News-Enterprise
February 18, 2004

University presidents take aim at budget cuts

FRANKFORT -- First it was college students, raising the Capitol Rotunda roof with their shouted pleas for more money for higher education. Then public school superintendents stood on the same spot and decried cuts to elementary and secondary education.

On Tuesday, university presidents took their turn to tell legislators what budget cuts will mean for their institutions.

"Enrollment is up, graduation rates are up, retention is up, but appropriations are down," said Lee Todd, president of the University of Kentucky, speaking on behalf of the eight state-supported universities and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.

Todd, the first of eight presidents to speak to the Budget Review Subcommittee of the House Education Committee, said UK is set to lose $7 million because of budget cuts while personnel costs alone stand to rise $14 million next year. Utility costs will go up $2.3 million, $4 million is needed for computer improvements and another $4 million is needed for scholarship support, he said.

"We would have to raise tuition 33 percent to cover it," Todd said. "That's certainly not what we plan to do. We're trying to limit it to 15 percent (for fall 2004). We going to cut operations by $6 million and use internal loans for the rest."

UK students will pay $300 more in tuition this fall, Todd said.

Eastern Kentucky University President Joanne K. Glasser said rising enrollment and budget cuts "threaten our ability to serve students with costs within their reach."

EKU has absorbed four budget cuts in two years, Glasser said. "We've put off maintenance, delayed projects; we've held positions open for two years and passed costs on to students. Most of us are dealing with aging infrastructure," she said.

Rep. Jon Draud, R-Edgewood, joined others on the subcommittee in calling for tax reform that produces new revenue.

"We not only need tax reform, but reform with revenue increases," he said. "Now we're going back to 48th and 49th in education, and that really disturbs me. We really need to realize how important this is. It will take a decade to regain momentum. We've got to have the courage to do it right now."

Ronald G. Eaglin, president of Morehead State University, urged legislators not to join a movement against letting universities set their own tuition rates.

"Currently there is something going through the legislature with 23 signatures not to allow institutions to raise tuition," Eaglin said. "That would be disastrous for students and institutions. In the long run it will cost students more. We will be looking at (enrollment) caps and retrenching."

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News-Enterprise
February 18, 2004

ECTC programs, summer classes face elimination

State budget cuts and an uncertain financial future could keep Hardin County's only public postsecondary institution from hiring new teachers for growing programs and force it to scale back summer classes.

Elizabethtown Community and Technical College, along with rest of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, doesn't have the money to continue operating as it has in previous years. So officials are making plans to reduce services and programs, and possibly even limit enrollment for certain programs, for the upcoming summer and fall semesters.

The cuts will most likely occur unless Gov. Ernie Fletcher and state legislators provide more money to colleges and universities in the state's upcoming biennial budget, something the area's top postsecondary educator isn't sure will happen.

"We will not be able to serve some students" if the budget passes as it is currently proposed, said ECTC President Thelma White.

ECTC has already had to cut more than $586,000 for the 2003-04 fiscal year, on top of the $240,000 in cuts the year before.

Appropriations are not keeping pace with KCTCS' growth, the system's president, Michael McCall, said. Funding for KCTCS is more than $60 million below the average of some other states, and no new money has been appropriated to support the 58 percent increase in enrollment the system has seen since 1998.

Enrollment at ECTC has steadily risen to 4,996 students as of fall 2003.

Statewide, KCTCS sustained a $4.4 million reduction in state appropriations for the 2003-04 fiscal year, which ends June 30. The cut is recurring, meaning the KCTCS base budget will not grow in coming years.

"Repeated budget cuts will not make significant differences in efficiency, but will directly impact students, communities and employers that rely on the education and training we provide, especially in the health care professions," McCall said.

ECTC's popular allied health program could suffer. The program's waiting list continues to grow as interest in careers in radiology and biological science increase. But without the ability to hire more instructors, dozens of students will continue to be turned away from the program.

White said the trend will have an immediate effect on the community and its goal of bringing in business and industry.

"If we are going to attract business and industry, we cannot back down on helping train the work force," White said. "(The cuts) are coming at a bad time when we have been gaining momentum and training a record number of people."

With several recent plant closings, ECTC has been holding workshops to help displaced workers get back in school or find another job. Future workshops could be shut down if money is not found.

"The state is shooting itself in the foot if it ignores postsecondary education," said Mary Jo King, an ECTC spokeswoman.

One way to make up for the cuts would be to raise student tuition. ECTC hiked its tuition 16 percent for the 2003-04 school year.

But White said the school cannot raise tuition every time there is a budget cut.

"Students cannot continue to bear this burden alone," she said.

As elementary and secondary education cont-inues to get dollars pumped back into its budgets, White has not given up hope money may still be found for postsecondary education.

"There still may be an avenue (for the governor and legislators) to get money for higher education," White said. "We have to make our case known, and hopefully the community can rally around us.

"We are still doing everything we can to serve our students."

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Paducah Sun
February 18, 2004

Murray State University tuition hike, classes cut

FRANKFORT, Ky.--If some of the higher education cuts proposed in Gov. Ernie Fletcher's budget aren't restored, Murray State University students this fall will pay up to 15 percent more in tuition.

And in some cases, students may find that classes they need to graduate no longer exist.

MSU President King Alexander delivered that message Tuesday to the House Budget Review Subcommittee on Education. He said the university is dealing with a $3 million cut imposed on Jan. 1 and another $1.5 million in permanent cuts for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

When the budget cuts were announced last month, Alexander said he ordered a hiring freeze until the budget is approved in late March or early April.

"At the present time, we don't have teachers for 168 classes," Alexander said. "These are all classes that students will need to graduate. We are either going to have to double the size of some classrooms, which we have concerns about, or make students wait to take the classes until we can fill the positions."

He said delaying course offerings could force some students to stay in college an extra semester. Besides costing the student more in tuition and fees, he said it is "inefficient use of state funds" because the student would occupy space that could be used by new students.

About 30 more teachers are needed to fill all the classes scheduled for this fall. "When the legislative session is over and we know more about out budget, we'll lift the freeze and fill as many of those positions as we can," Alexander said.

If Fletcher's budget is approved as recommended, "we're looking at a tuition increase of 10 to 15 percent," Alexander said. "That amounts to $300 to $400 per year." He said the minimum increase is likely to be 8 percent.

Even if tuition is increased, Alexander said Kentucky's rates will continue to be among the lowest in the nation. Only seven states have lower tuition rates, Alexander said.

Last year, the MSU Board of Regents raised tuition 15.9 percent. The current tuition rates are $1,472 per semester for in-state undergraduate students and generally $4,416 for out-of-state undergraduate students.

But exceptions apply to students in Illinois, Tennessee, Missouri and Indiana. Alexander said attracting those students is important to Murray State, so the tuition for students from those states matches their own in-state rates, and in the closest Tennessee counties, students pay the same rate as Kentucky students.

"We attract a lot of students from southern Illinois because they know we have a quality institution," he said. "The rate they pay is almost double what Kentucky students pay." He also said that Kentucky benefits because about 20 percent of the out-of-state students stay in Kentucky to live and work.

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Herald-Leader
February 18, 2004

UK might increase tuition by 15 percent
RISE WOULD BRING IN LESS THAN HALF OF WHAT UNIVERSITY NEEDS

FRANKFORT - University of Kentucky students could see a 15 percent tuition increase next fall as UK attempts to deal with crippling budget cuts, President Lee Todd said yesterday.

"We're trying our best to keep it at 15 percent or below," Todd told a group of lawmakers.

Students already faced a 15 percent tuition increase in fall 2003. But even another 15 percent -- which would bring in about $15 million -- will cover less than half of an additional $33 million needed to operate next year.

And that doesn't even count the $16.7 million one-time cut UK would take as part of a $41 million one-time assessment on public universities proposed by Gov. Ernie Fletcher to help cover shortfalls in the state budget.

The tuition increase would be used largely to cover the $14 million needed for a 2 percent raise for faculty and staff. That increase, though, won't move UK any closer to its goal of reaching 90 percent of faculty pay for its benchmarks, the schools to which UK compares itself.

"We did 3 percent raises last year, and we still backslid against our benchmarks," Todd said.

These numbers are preliminary: The state must first pass a budget, then the UK Board of Trustees must approve its own budget with the tuition increases included.

UK is also facing a $4 million increase in scholarships, $2.3 million more for utility costs, and a 10.5 percent increase in health care costs, Todd said.

Todd said that since he arrived at UK in 2001, UK has lost between $50 million and $60 million in state funding.

Rachel Watts, student body president, said lawmakers should expect to hear more from students. Last week, about 300 college students from around the state rallied in Frankfort to protest budget cuts.

Almost all of Kentucky's eight public universities saw double digit tuition increases last fall.

"The tuition increases from this year are still very fresh on students' minds," she said. "Students haven't given up on trying to contact their legislators about this."

This fall at UK, full-time resident undergraduate students paid $4,546.50 a year in tuition and fees per year. Non-resident full-time undergraduates paid $11,226.50, up from $10,526.50.

When all costs are considered, a year of school at UK for an in-state student, including housing, dining, tuition and fees, costs $8,800. That's 16 percent of the average per capita income in Kentucky. However, Kentucky still ranks as one of the more affordable states in the country for college tuition.

Watts said that while students support faculty and staff raises, the increase would mean some students would have to get second jobs, and some might have to drop out of school.

Jeffrey Dembo, chair of the University Senate, which represents faculty said he appreciated the administration's work in raising salaries but UK isn't there yet.

"It may help in the short run, but doesn't come close to addressing the very large discrepancy that exists," he said.

Todd told the budget subcommittee yesterday that he hopes -- and UK's constituency will support -- passage of a tax modernization plan this session that will soon produce some of the revenue so desperately needed for higher education.

"We can unify faculty, staff, students and alumni behind some kind of tax change," he said. "That would give us something to rally around."

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Associated Press
February 17, 2004

Fletcher says extra $27 million to go for education

FRANKFORT -- Some education programs -- which were previously slated to be cut next year -- would share about $27 million in newly found money, Gov. Ernie Fletcher said Monday.

The money was first earmarked to pay for health insurance for school employees. But more employees declined to take the state health coverage than was anticipated, according to a Fletcher statement.

Now, some programs such as those for professional development, teacher academies and programs for gifted and talented children will not be cut, according to the statement. Instead, those programs would get the same amount of funding as they receive under the current budget, which runs through the end of June.

"Each of these restorations continues to allow school districts flexibility and local control, which is so important for them to meet their specific needs," Fletcher said in the statement.

The move marks the second time Fletcher's administration has revised its budget proposal since it was introduced last month.

Earlier this month, Fletcher said his administration was able to muster an additional $23.3 million for education by refinancing state bonds at lower interest rates. At the time, Fletcher said he would add the money to his proposed budget for elementary and secondary schools.

The governor's original budget proposal had $16 million -- about half the amount as finally allocated for this fiscal year ending June 30 -- for after-school services next year. There was $5.4 million less for teacher training and $5.1 million less for school safety.

Under the revised plan outlined Monday, there was also additional money -- about $4.7 million over the next two years -- for virtual learning, and other reading programs, Fletcher said. There's also about $1.3 million for seven Kentucky Community and Technical College System schools scheduled to open this year, according to the statement.

Programs for professional development, gifted and talented children and teacher academies would be restored to this year's funding levels under Fletcher's latest budget proposal.

Education Secretary Virginia Fox praised the move.

"More students will now have access to additional reading and math instruction during the school day, and seven of our state's KCTCS sites will open for business next year," Fox said.

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Herald-Leader
February 17, 2004

More funds restored for education
Fletcher would use money from health-care accounts

FRANKFORT - Gov. Ernie Fletcher said yesterday that he's allocating an additional $27 million to education in his proposed budget, helping offset prior cuts.

The revision in projected fiscal 2005-2006 primary and secondary education funding is the second since Fletcher disclosed his budget plan on Jan. 27.

In the first change two weeks ago, Fletcher restored $23 million in funding, citing greater-than-anticipated savings on refinancing of state bonds.

This time, the money would come from a greater-than-anticipated impact of cuts in school employees' health plans.

Fletcher has proposed a 57 percent cut in the amount of money credited to state workers and school employees who opt out of state-sponsored health insurance. At a press conference yesterday, Fletcher explained that more school workers than previously estimated opt out, which means the cut would save more than thought.

And because the funds would come from school employees, "we thought that money should be directed back to education," he said.

The proposal immediately drew fire from the Kentucky Education Association, which represents about 40,000 teachers across the state.

"The programs they are funding are programs we wish they would fund, but not on the backs of school employees," said KEA President Frances Steenbergen.

Fletcher said he envisions an even split in the $27 million between 2005 and 2006, and would direct the funds chiefly at teacher training, reading programs and extended school services.

The money would come from flexible health-care spending accounts. Currently, teachers and other school workers can opt out of state health insurance, and instead receive a $234-a-month credit to an account to pay health-related bills. Under Fletcher's plan, the state would cut that to $100 a month.

Budget director Brad Cowgill said yesterday that a survey of 176 school districts showed many more school employees are choosing the accounts over insurance than other state government employees.

The KEA's Steenbergen said she objects to the proposed cutback in the state's contribution because many employees depend heavily on the accounts.

"People who opt out use that money either as their only health insurance or to help offset some of the costs of health coverage, and just pray nothing catastrophic happens," she said.

According to the Office of Public Employee Health Insurance, Kentucky is one of a handful of states that make contributions into such accounts.

Kathy Hobbs, a teacher's assistant in Daviess County, is covered by her husband's insurance plan, but uses her flex account to pay for things that aren't covered, like her two sons' eye exams and dentists' visits.

"A lot of people depend on the flex accounts," she said. "That's not something employees in public schools will be thrilled about -- he's cutting out benefits to fund education, which should be funded already."

Together, Fletcher's two revisions would restore much of the money cut from primary and secondary education in the budget he presented to the General Assembly. The plan will have to be approved by lawmakers. Higher education has separately lost $64 million in funding.

Fletcher's education cuts have drawn some vocal opposition, including rallies by college students and superintendents.

"What has come home to roost is that somebody underestimated public reaction to his budget," said Sen. David Karem, D-Louisville.

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Herald-Leader
February 17, 2004

FLETCHER'S PLAN

Gov. Ernie Fletcher has proposed restoring nearly $27 million to the primary and secondary education budget, divided in the following ways:

Fiscal year

2005-2006

Professional Development

$7,000,000 $7,000,000

Teacher Academies

$1,400,000 $1,400,000

Gifted & Talented

$700,000 $700,000

Kentucky Community and Technical College

(Money to open buildings on seven campuses)

$1,300,000 -----

Virtual Learning (On-line classes)

$600,000 $600,000

Read to Achieve

$1,000,000 $1,000,000

Everyone Reads

$500,000 $500,000

(Jefferson County reading program)

Extended School Services

$750,000 $1,500,000

(waivers for in-school tutoring)

Family Literacy

----- $500,000

Standard & Poor's Assessment Study

$250,000 ------

(software program to extract student achievement data compared to school spending)

Total

$13,500,000 $13,200,000

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Henderson Gleaner
February 11, 2004

Tech center: Teamwork, clout can bring it back

Editorial
Considering the magnitude of the state's budget woes, it would be foolhardy to be more than "cautiously optimistic" about the future of the proposed $13 million Tri-County Technology Center at Henderson Community College.

As for the Henderson Fine Arts Center and the possibility HCC might have to shut that facility's doors if greater funding cutbacks come, the latest word from HCC President Pat Lake indicates that there's no reason to worry about that "for the time being." Our feeling is that local community and government leaders will find a way to keep the center alive and well if state funding cuts put it serious jeopardy.

As for the tech center, which won Gov. Ernie Fletcher's promise of support when he was campaigning here last fall, the good news is that state Rep. Gross Lindsay, D-Henderson, is working to get funding restored as the Democrat-controlled House gets its hands on the governor's budget.

"I'm talking to leadership in the House," Rep. Lindsay said this week in the chamber-sponsored legislative briefing here. "If I can find the money, I want them to OK putting it back in. That's the key right now."

Although Lindsay's explanation of the budget process in the legislature brought to mind Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?" routine, he was on the mark in pointing out that ultimately the fate of the local tech center will rest with the free conference committee of Senate and House leaders. (It was in such a budget conference committee that original funding for the Henderson Fine Arts Center and the academic-technical building was lost in the final hours of the 1988 General Assembly session. Both were funded two years later when local-area legislators supported the state's education reform legislation and the accompanying tax package.)

Rep. Lindsay enjoys a good relationship with House leadership and apparently has not posed a roadblock to pet proposals from the other side of the aisle, so there is reason to hope that he can be a major player in helping to restore funding for the tech center.

Henderson County Judge-executive Sandy Watkins, who has been quick to extend the political olive branch to members of the governor's administration, can also help.

Key players in the local Republican Party, including those in the background who have refrained from finger-pointing but whose influence is much stronger with the powers-that-be, can also play a pivotal role in winning funding for the center.

We agree with Rep. Lindsay that patience is important, and so is bipartisan teamwork and the political clout of some we haven't heard from.

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Courier-Journal
February 1, 2004

Fletcher invests in state work force
Higher-education building projects at heart of plan

In announcing Gov. Ernie Fletcher's proposed state budget, his team said the spending plan's 49 building projects would create economic opportunity for Kentucky and quickly pay for themselves.

But Fletcher's budget puts nearly half of the $581million in bonds that the state will cover on university and college campuses.

"Training a work force that's good in science and math will be good for the long-term health of the economy, but maybe it's a mistake to say it will have an immediate economic impact," said Norman Walzer, an economics professor at Western Illinois University and director of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs.

Bill Hintze, deputy budget director, said Fletcher's choices show the governor's economic development philosophy — improving the state's work force is a better investment than trying to bring in jobs by building industrial parks or offering large incentive packages to companies.

"We haven't completed all of the industrial parks that we need, but we've pretty much rolled them all out, and it's time to get more targeted in our approach," Hintze said.

Coupled with nearly $114million that universities and other state agencies have been authorized to borrow, Fletcher's budget will support $694.5million in capital projects.

In several cases, Fletcher passed over proposals that could have a quicker return, such as the $55million renovation of the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center. Not all of the campus projects, such as dormitory renovations, would have an immediate economic effect, aside from providing work for contractors.

And in funding education building projects, Fletcher chose not to put money into "Bucks for Brains," an initiative that has pumped cash mainly into the universities of Louisville and Kentucky to help attract high-profile researchers.

Mary Lassiter, deputy executive director for policy research for the budget office, said Bucks for Brains might come back in the 2006-2008 budget if university presidents ask for it and money is available.

UofL and UK officials said they told the governor that those projects were of more immediate importance.

Old idea, new slant

This is not a new idea. Historically, colleges and universities have received the lion's share of building projects in the state's budget. In 1998, for example, the state spent $335million in bonds, or 59percent of its projects budget, on colleges and universities. That does not include the $110million that started Bucks for Brains, funded through a surplus in 1998.

Campus building projects are funded through debt assumed when the state and universities sell bonds to investors. Kentucky and its public universities are each responsible for repaying their own bonds, plus interest.

Hintze said the past two budget cycles have been the exception as universities received smaller portions of state project money.

In 2000, the General Assembly funded $227million in building projects, about 34percent of state-issued bonds. Bucks for Brains also received $120million from cash surpluses.

Last year, the state had no extra revenue and instead sold $120million in bonds for Bucks for Brains. It spent nothing on college building projects. Last year's college and university spending was only 20percent of the state's building fund.

Fletcher's budget sends 48percent of state building projects to colleges and universities, but it put nothing into Bucks for Brains.

The state could not sell more bonds because it limits borrowing to keep debt payments to less than 6 percent of tax collections. Public universities may not issue bonds for a building project or other program without state authorization because the state would be responsible for repaying the bonds if the schools defaulted on the debt.

"We don't want to give up on Bucks for Brains," said Dr. Joel Kaplan, dean of the UofL medical school. "We think it's critical, but the decision had to be made, so we asked for a priority to be put on buildings."

The medical school will receive $19million in state bonds and the ability to sell $19million of its own bonds to build a cancer research center in the downtown medical complex.

What makes Fletcher's focus on university project funding in the 2004-2006 budget different from the heavy university spending of the late 1990s is the tie he has made between campus projects and economic development.

Long-running debate

Some experts argue that improving education helps the economy by providing a skilled work force attractive to businesses. Whether this works has been debated since the early 1950s, said Ernie Goss, an economics professor with Creighton University in Omaha, Neb.

"It really comes down to two ideas," Goss said. "Do you grow (economic opportunity) yourself, or do you bring it in?"

Kentucky and most states try to balance the two approaches, but Hintze agreed that Fletcher's spending priorities put the governor closer to the "grow your own" camp.

Some of the campus projects in Fletcher's budget have a clear economic link.

For example, Louisville would receive the cancer research center while UK would get $21million in state funds and the ability to sell $21million in bonds to build a biological and pharmaceutical research center.

Bringing in highly paid researchers and their staffs can generate sales and property tax revenues, researchers can create companies to produce the drugs and products invented, and laboratory medical research can find its way to clinical trials that could bring more patients to the area.

Kaplan said a new UofL research building would help the school win comprehensive cancer center status from the National Cancer Institute. That status could bring millions in federal research grants, which could attract more faculty members, more graduate students and more spinoff companies.

"A lot of the lab work we're doing is on the development of early-state cancer drugs," Kaplan said. "There's a huge potential there for spinning off companies and creating more economic activity."

Aptamera, a cancer drug and testing company, was founded in 2001 by UofL researcher Dr. Donald M. Miller, and several other small companies have started since Bucks for Brains began attracting researchers to the area.

UofL had requested $58million in state bonds for the research facility. Because the governor cut that to $19million, Kaplan said, the school will split the project from one large research center into two smaller sites. It will build the first building now and ask for money for the second half of the project during the next session of the General Assembly.

Roger Stough, an economics professor at George Mason University near Washington, said high-level research tends to pay off, but measuring the effect can be difficult.

"What we do know now is that small businesses grow well in areas where knowledgeable people are readily available. We've seen that in Silicon Valley and around (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology)," Stough said. "People are starting to recognize the value of having a research university nearby."

The governor also funded five regional centers that would provide on-the-job training for businesses.

One such center in Bowling Green was proposed to serve a specific employer.

The Warren County Technology Center would provide worker training for Magna International, a Canadian auto-parts maker that is building a factory that will employ 1,100 workers. Michael B. McCall, president of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, said he proposed the center during negotiations to lure Magna to Kentucky.

"It's going to be one of the ways Kentucky will attract businesses, by offering worker training where it's needed," McCall said.

Dorms for dollars?

But not all of Fletcher's university spending is on research and training facilities. Also funded are classroom improvements at Western Kentucky University, a special events center at Northern Kentucky University and dormitory renovations at Kentucky State University.

Fletcher spokesman Wes Irvin said the Kentucky State project was part of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education's civil-rights office to desegregate the historically black school.

The NKU special events center is expected to generate $4million a year in tax revenues from visitors to events such as high school graduations, basketball games and small concerts.

"It's going to draw Ohio money into Kentucky," said NKU President Jim Votruba.

As to the classroom improvements at WKU, the economic justification is indirect.

Bob Edwards, assistant vice president for university relations at the school, said the science buildings that will be renovated house the Applied Research and Technology Program of Distinction, which uses students and faculty members to solve engineering and technical problems for businesses.

Edwards said the program's students are highly sought after because they have real-world problem-solving experience.

`Economic engines'

Walzer, at Western Illinois University, said calling even such specialized training centers economic development is a stretch. He added that improving old science classrooms and lab space is important to stop students and faculty members from leaving a university, but that is a matter of not letting the economy get worse, not improving it.

Paul Coomes, an economics professor at UofL, agreed.

"Kentucky already has a lot of college campuses per capita, so it's hard to argue that we need more infrastructure on campuses for education," Coomes said.

WKU and NKU argued that they needed big projects because they have seen enrollment skyrocket in recent years. Coomes and Walzer said that may be true, but if the state wants to use universities as economic development engines, it must look at what is good for the entire state, not for each campus.

Walzer said, "I don't know if many states have captured the economic development role of universities. We really should be looking at five years, 10 years out at what the state needs to be. Many universities think too short-term — this dorm is falling down, we need to repair it."

Irvin, Fletcher's spokesman, argued that because the economy is shifting away from manufacturing jobs, the state needs to prepare its residents for high-tech service work to maintain a good quality of life. This means improving as many educational institutions as possible.

"Governor Fletcher has called our colleges and universities incubators for human capital," Irvin said. "Universities and colleges are essential economic engines. They're what will drive Kentucky forward."

Rachel Hoskins worked in a lab started by Bucks for Brains, which is still on solid footing.

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Maysville Ledger-Independent
February 11, 2004

As funding dwindles, community colleges struggle

Eva Lewis is lucky. This semester all the classes she needs are offered at Maysville Community College.

Next semester Lewis, who lives in Vanceburg, might not be so lucky. Community and technical colleges across the state are trimming the fat from their budgets due to cuts in education Gov. Ernie Fletcher made shortly after taking office.

MCC President Dr. Augusta Julian feels that cuts in education have an impact on students as well as the community and industry. She, along with other members of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, traveled to Frankfort last week to persuade legislators to adequately fund the community and technical colleges.

Over the past three years, $523,000 has been cut from the combined budgets of MCC and Rowan Technical College, which is under the direction of Julian.

In January, $4.4 million was cut from the state appropriation for the 2003-2004 fiscal year. The cut is recurring, meaning that the KCTCS base budget for next fiscal year and beyond will be reduced by the same amount.

A $5.9 million, non-recurring cut for 2003-2004 will be drawn from a variety of funding sources to help balance the state's budget.

The most recent cuts come at a particularly difficult time, when the spring semester has started and the colleges have committed to students and industry to certain courses.

Julian said although classes for the current semester have not suffered from the cuts, that may not be the case in the fall.

'We start next year with less money than we started this year,' Julian said. 'We have not been able to move aggressively to bring on the new technical programs in Maysville not to expand in Cynthiana or Morehead.'

Maysville Community College has a campus in Cynthiana that Julian wants to see grow over the next few years but with the cuts that is unlikely.

There are 100 faculty members at MCC and 45 at Rowan Tech in Morehead. Julian said that by working with a tight budget she was able to avoid job cuts.

'We operate with budget that is lean, not a lot of extra lying around,' Julian said. 'But we were able to set aside funds so we wouldn't be faced with layoffs.'

The needs of the community are what bothers Julian about the cuts. She feels the mission of the community college is to serve the community. By offering classes to businesses for their employees, and evening classes for working students Julian feels the college is meeting a need that no other entity in the area fills.

'More needs could easily be filled if we had the staff,' Julian said.

Lewis is thankful for Julian's dedication to the college and the students. Efforts of the staff have allowed Lewis to enroll in six classes at the college, two of them Internet courses.

While her needs are met now, Lewis worries that next year when she transfers to Morehead State University, cuts will have affected her major, education, and the financial aid she receives.

'Right now I get Pell and CAP (College Access Program) grants to pay for my education,' Lewis said. 'I just hope that next year the grants will be there.'

As a single mother, Lewis has raised two boys that now attend MSU. With their encouragement, Lewis started taking distance learning classes at Lewis County High School. From there the transition to community college was easy.

However the next transition for Lewis may not be as easy; her fears of future cuts dampen her excitement of earning a degree.

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Advocate Messenger
February 10, 2004

Oppose cuts at state's technical colleges

Editorial
After sustaining four funding cuts in three years, schools in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System are preparing budget-reduction plans that may include closing buildings, reducing programs and services and limiting enrollment.

The Kentucky Community and Technical College System operates three schools in the Blurgrass District. One of these schools is right here in Danville. The other two are located in Anderson County and Lexington. Both of these schools have students from Danville and the surrounding counties. Our community has needed this school for many years, and now that we finally have it, we are facing terrible consequinces due to cuts from our new governor. This is the same governor who campaigned on supporting education. Within weeks of his election, huge funding cuts were swept across the entire post-secondary educational system in our commonwealth.

For many years, I have witnessed and supported the need for technical education in Kentucky. The very people who we all depend on come from these technical and traditional learning institutes. The last nurse that helped you or a family member could easily come from one of the nursing programs in our technical or traditional colleges. Just take a look in this very paper at the "help wanted" advertising, and see for yourself the need for more in just that one trade. This training need also extends to the people who fix your cars, build your homes, welded the last bridge you crossed on the highway, and others that have training in many other speciality trades.

You need to contact your legislators in the House and Senate and tell these people of the crushing blow these education cuts will have on our state, our educational systems and our economy. Take the time to act on this before your need for these trained people arises, and they are are limited or do not exist because they had no school or program to be trained in.

Steve Hamblin
Danville

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Henderson Gleaner
February 10, 2004

Community colleges feeling budget cuts

SOMERSET, Ky. (AP) -- Kentucky's community and technical colleges, called a success in education reform, are now struggling to deal with cuts in state funding.

The money has been tapering in recent years, and the latest round of cuts, announced last month by Gov. Ernie Fletcher's administration, has college administrators worried.

At Somerset Community College, the leadership has been looking at ways to meet a $500,000 cut in this year's budget, even as the number of students continues to climb. The college, which serves 5,600 students from 13 counties, is now considering cutting classes that have too few students and scaling back its summer school programs.

"We don't want to cut services to students," President Jo Marshall said in Monday's editions of the Lexington Herald-Leader. "But soon, we won't be able to avoid it."

Each of the 16 institutions in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System faces the same dilemma. The system has seen enrollment increase by 58 percent since 1998 to more than 72,000 students.

But many system officials say it has suffered the most in funding cuts. The system lost $7.7 million in recurring funds between 2001 and 2003.

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Business Courier
February 6, 2004

Gateway feeling effects of budget crunch
President worried accreditation at risk

For years, Northern Kentucky business leaders lobbied state officials to expand the local technical college into a full-fledged community college with the additional educational muscle to make the region more attractive for business investment.

All that lobbying finally paid off in 2001 when Northern Kentucky Technical College officially became the Northern Kentucky Community and Technical College, which was renamed Gateway Community and Technical College in 2002.

But the budget cuts hammering Kentucky's colleges and universities are hitting the state's community and technical colleges, too. And Gateway President Ed Hughes has warned community supporters and his staff that his institution's progress and promise are threatened.

The institution learned just weeks ago that Gateway's state budget cut would be a whopping $213,200 -- more than triple the $62,000 cut that was expected.

Hughes said in an interview that his greatest immediate concern is how the cuts will impact Gateway's ability to get accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, or SACS.

Such accreditation would allow Gateway students to have their community college credits transfer more easily to four-year schools, making Gateway a true feeder to local four-year colleges and universities. But community colleges must have certain basic programs in place that meet SACS standards to get the association's stamp of approval.

"That SACS accreditation is important to us as a college and as a community," Hughes said. "It also is important to the business world because we keep hearing that continual advancement in careers requires additional education."

Indeed, local business leaders worry that the cuts to Gateway could hamper the school's transformation and impact the region for years to come.

"Education is a key component to economic development, and if we shortchange that, we will feel that years down the road," said Tim Rawe, CEO of Fifth Third Bank of Northern Kentucky and this year's chairman of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. "The key issue is work-force development, and if we don't take care of that, it's going to come back to haunt us."

Steve Stevens, the chamber's senior vice president for public affairs and chief lobbyist, said he was stunned and disappointed to hear about the severity of the cuts.

"They didn't really have enough money to begin with," Stevens said. "We're going to be taking a step backward after we struggled so hard to get to where we were. It's like we're starting over."

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The Gleaner
February 8, 2004

Lake: HFAC future brighter

While Gov. Ernie Fletcher's proposed budget for the next biennium had a glaring omission that caused great disappointment here, it also gave area arts supporters a reason to be hopeful -- at least for the time being.

Though the coveted $13 million Tri-County Technology Center for the Henderson Community College campus was excluded from the budget, there was no indication of a much-rumored 10 percent cut in state money to higher education for the 2004-2005 academic year. HCC President Patrick Lake noted in January that such a cut could result in the closing of the Henderson Fine Arts Center this summer for an undetermined length of time.

That $6 million facility, now in its 10th performance season, became a candidate for closure because it is the only building on the HCC campus not directly tied to the day-to-day needs of the school's students.

The possibility of closure sent shock waves through the community, with civic and arts leaders saying it would be a blow to the arts and hamper the recruitment of new industries here.

Lake expressed guarded optimism last week when he told The Gleaner that "for the time being" there appears to be no additional decrease in state funding to higher education on the immediate horizon. "The emphasis is 'for the time being,'" Lake said, adding, "We're in a holding pattern right now.

"We don't know what the higher education budget will be until the legislature passes a budget for the governor to sign in April."

Lake pointed out that the operating budget for higher education in Kentucky for the 2004-2005 academic year, as outlined in the governor's spending plan, is a flat-line document with "no new state money."

Fletcher has indicated that the following year would see a $5 million increase to be divided among all of the state-supported higher education institutions. "That's not very much," Lake said.

HCC this year has sustained cuts totaling $216,400. State-decreed budget-whittling in the last three years has totaled more than $400,000 at the 44-year-old school here.

Lake said it still isn't known where money will be found for the most recent cut -- $122,000 -- which is HCC's share of a state-mandated action. Fletcher is requiring Kentucky's universities and community-technical colleges to contribute $41 million to the state budget as their share of a $100 million reserve to carry into the next budget cycle beginning July 1.

Possibilities here include: Cutting some summer school classes; dropping some bi-term courses; eliminating special classes for Donovan Scholars (those age 65 and over who can study tuition-free); cutting capital expenditures such as new library books, computer equipment and software; leaving a faculty vacancy unfilled; utilizing campus bookstore reserve funds, which had been earmarked for student use, and utilizing campus vending machine funds which currently go toward student scholarships.

Lake acknowledged that he has received some local criticism for his outspoken concerns regarding state cuts to higher education, with some citing his remarks as a possible factor in the omission of the Tri-County Technology Center from Fletcher's budget.

"My response would be that I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't bring to the public's attention the potential negative outcomes associated with these cuts," Lake said last week. "As marginally funded as we are, we've got to make our various constituencies aware of our situation and the fact that we're being as efficient as we can.

"With a loss of over 25 percent in state funding in the last six years and an 88 percent growth in (HCC) enrollment since 1998, the situation speaks for itself."

Nor is the Kentucky Community and Technical College System remaining silent about budget woes. The system, which includes HCC, issued a news release last week which points out that after four funding cuts in the last three years, KCTCS schools "are preparing budget-reduction plans that may include closing buildings, reducing programs and services and limiting enrollment."

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Herald-Leader
February 9, 2004

More students and less money
COMMUNITY COLLEGES SAY THEY'RE TAKING BIGGEST HIT

SOMERSET - Just off the pristine white hallway of the brand-new Student Commons Building, teachers at Somerset Community and Technical College are getting ready to unwrap a brand-new program in surgical technology.

New buildings and new programs -- those are the signs of a bustling and burgeoning student population, up 11 percent since last year.

But any new expansion plans came to a halt in the past month. Instead, president Jo Marshall is huddling with her leadership team over ways to cut back in the wake of a series of budget cuts -- $500,000 this year alone.

Somerset Community College, which serves 5,600 students from 13 counties from sites in three counties, is now looking at pruning classes that have too few students, trimming back on summer school, and hoping against hope for enough money to keep its new Student Commons building open.

"We don't want to cut services to students," Marshall said. "But soon, we won't be able to avoid it."

'A losing battle'

The story is the same at each of Kentucky's 16 community and technical colleges. These schools, unified under the umbrella of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, have seen enrollment increase by 58 percent since 1998 to more than 72,000 students. KCTCS is often called the biggest success story of higher-education reform.

Despite that success, many within the system think it has suffered the worst in funding cuts. The system has lost $7.7 million in recurring money between 2001 and 2003.

This year, as part of Gov. Ernie Fletcher's budget plans, KCTCS took a cut of $4.4 million in recurring funds, and $5.9 million loss in one-time money.

That quickly trickles down to program cuts and increased tuition, which has already jumped from $64 to $79 a credit hour this year. It will probably go up again next fall.

And that is more than just numbers to students. Heather Decker works at a bank 30 hours a week while taking 15 credits at Somerset.

"If tuition goes up, it will take longer to get my degree, and it's really hard as it is," said Decker, 20, who lives at home with her parents to save money. "I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle."

Stopping the momentum

KCTCS was born out of Gov. Paul Patton's plan for higher-education reform, the result of a pitched battle that took the community colleges away from the University of Kentucky and joined them to the technical schools.

KCTCS is also responsible for work-force training, some adult literacy programs, and some programs at high schools. Officials estimate that 200,000 adults have taken continuing education classes on the job.

But KCTCS officials say these efforts are being stymied by chronic underfinancing.

They say the Kentucky system is short about $60 million compared to systems in other states, and that's without new money to support a 58 percent enrollment increase.

Fletcher, who says community colleges are essential for better economic development, provided a big boost for building projects on seven KCTCS campuses -- including money to upgrade Somerset's aviation program. But the schools need money to maintain the buildings. The money Fletcher authorized cannot be used to hire faculty members or buy supplies.

"Look, we feel like we've created a lot of efficiencies by combining technical and community colleges," KCTCS President Michael McCall said Thursday during a break from lobbying legislators at the Capitol. "But I have a real concern about the impact of access for Kentuckians who need education and training."

Jay Box, president of Hazard Community College, which operates at five sites in Perry, Leslie and Knott counties, says he's met with 800 students about the cuts.

"There's a lot of discouragement among students," he said. "Because of the fact we've had to increase tuition, students take less and less hours, and it takes them three years or longer to get a degree."

Cuts have meant closing the new craft school in Hindman operated by Hazard. The Hazard campus will also cut back on many summer school programs, and possibly limit overall enrollment.

Similar stories are filtering in from around the state.

Big Sandy Community College will have to eliminate extended campuses at Betsy Layne High School and Allen Central High School. Gateway Community College in Northern Kentucky will have to cancel 25 summer school classes, affecting 500 students. Ashland will have to delay opening a new building at East Park, and close one building on the Roberts Drive campus altogether.

"Taking a budget cut when the momentum is so great is going to interfere with access, and I don't think the state can afford this at that time," Box said.

Paying more for less

At Somerset, Marshall, the president might have to close a site in McCreary County. Most immediately, budget cuts will filter to the classroom in the form of larger classes and fewer materials.

"These facilities were not planned for large lecture classes; we strive for individual attention for all students," she said.

Materials aren't just paper and pencils; Mitch Crabtree, who teaches physical therapy, will have to forgo things such as linens or ultrasound gel.

"We're losing 7 percent of our operating funds, and eventually that could be a problem," Crabtree said.

Luckily, he said, the mats and tables and other equipment are in the new Student Commons Building, and are already paid for. Provided, of course, the college gets enough money to run the building.

But worries still abound. Tyler Sapp is planning on making the jump to the University of Kentucky to get a degree to teach history -- the move that state officials want to see -- but tuition hikes might delay him.

Sapp said most students aren't really aware of more cuts, but will realize them pretty quickly if they have to pay more for fewer classes.

"We're trying to do the right thing," Sapp said. "But it seems like it's getting harder."

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Herald-Leader
February 8, 2004

Rethink budget priorities
Buildings not as critical as Medicaid, education

EDITORIAL
Refinancing some bonded indebtedness enabled Gov. Ernie Fletcher to find an extra $23.3 million for money-starved education programs last week.

As lawmakers dig deeper into Fletcher's budget proposal, with all its flat-lined or reduced funding for everything from education at all levels to Medicaid to the state's court system, they, too, might start thinking seriously about bonds.

No, we're not advocating that the state borrow money to pay its light bills. That would be fiscal insanity.

Bonds ought to pay for tangible infrastructure, such as roads and buildings, and less tangible investments in the state's economic and educational future, such as the "Bonds for Brains" that were a part of the current state budget. But bonds should never be used to cover the day-to-day costs of running state government.

What we're suggesting to lawmakers is that they consider the consequences of delaying approval of some or all of the bond projects Fletcher is proposing in his budget.

Lest the beneficiaries of the governor's bonding proposals get the wrong idea, we are not questioning the value or need for these projects. Our question is simply this: Is that need more important at this moment in time than, say, additional funding for education or Medicaid?

For instance, is Northern Kentucky University's need for a basketball arena (let's call it what it is instead of masking it behind the sobriquet "regional special events center") so great that it can't wait a couple of years?

The Council on Postsecondary Education didn't think it was urgent; the arena was not one of the projects the council recommended for this budget.

Similarly, do we need to build more technology centers at various Kentucky Community and Technical College System campuses when budget cuts have left KCTCS with insufficient money to operate some existing programs and buildings?

You could ask similar questions about virtually every one of the projects on the governor's $694 million list. And lawmakers should ask those questions in light of the fact that delaying these projects until the next budget cycle would free up almost $70 million in debt service ($58.5 million in General Fund money and about $11 million from agency funds at universities and other agencies) that's slated to go to debt service in Fletcher's budget.

That $58.8 million in General Fund money would go a long way to restoring the various elements of the Kentucky Education Reform Act. It could plug part of the huge hole in Medicaid funding. It could raise teachers' pay, offset some of the increased health insurance costs for all state workers or ease the pain in this budget in a variety of ways.

For their part, universities could use the $11 million or so they would save on debt service to offset some of the $64 million in budget cuts imposed on them this year.

It's all a question of priorities, a question that is not limited to delaying some or all of the bond issues the governor proposes.

Elsewhere in his budget, Fletcher commits almost $4 million in federal and state money to improvements at Frankfort's Capital City Airport. Fletcher recently suggested that it would be embarrassing to have corporate CEOs get their first impression of Frankfort by flying into the airport.

Fine. Let's agree with the governor that the airport needs improvements. But must the job be done during the coming budget cycle? Could the state's share of the cost of this project be put to better use elsewhere?

Would it be so bad to delay this project and, in the meantime, let corporate bigwigs get their first impression of Frankfort by flying over Keeneland into Blue Grass Field and motoring into the capital city (a 20-minute drive for slowpokes) past some of the most beautiful horse farms in the world?

People or bricks and mortar? This is just one of the choices legislators confront as they try to transform a lemon budget into potable lemonade.

Of course, there's another choice they could make. They could admit that the state needs additional revenue and do what's necessary to raise it.

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Herald-Leader
February 7, 2004

Fletcher should scrap pledge not to raise taxes

Editorial
Gov. Ernie Fletcher ran his campaign on a no-new-tax pledge. He and his sycophants indicated that there was tremendous waste in Frankfort and that he and his staff could cut waste and streamline services.

It seems that the task of providing services without a tax increase may be more difficult than Fletcher anticipated during his campaign.

It is especially difficult to understand how he can justify cutting higher education.

The Kentucky Community and Technical College System had already been hit with a decrease in funding last year and a 2.5 percent cut this year. In January, it was announced that the governor was requesting another $41 million from higher education. The total cuts for Hazard Community and Technical College came to more than $500,000 for 2003-04.

Students are starting to understand that the no-new-tax pledge is a facade. They understand that a tuition increase amounts to a tax. They see that colleges have to increase tuition to provide basic services.

Perhaps the legislature and Fletcher will work together on a new tax structure that will enable higher education to progress rather than regress. It is time to eliminate the smoke-and-mirror tactics and get on with this state's business.

Students are registering to vote, and they are starting to understand how they can make a difference.

Cluster Howard
Jackson

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Courier-Journal
February 6, 2004

College students denounce Fletcher's funding proposal
Protesters say plan passes budget woes to their tuition bills

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Saying they fear big tuition increases and a decline in academic quality, about 300 Kentucky college students raucously rallied yesterday in the state Capitol against Gov. Ernie Fletcher's spending plans for higher education.

Chanting "we will vote" and wearing stickers saying "Don't balance the budget on our backs," students said Fletcher's proposed cuts of $66million for universities this year and his 2004-06 budget proposal that offers only $5million in new funding for higher education will make it harder for them to continue their studies.

"Is the University of Louisville, is Northern Kentucky University, an example of waste, fraud and abuse?" asked Chris Pace, NKU's student body president, citing Fletcher's campaign pledge to balance the budget by cutting waste, fraud and abuse. "I don't believe that's what the voters meant and I don't believe an investment in education is ever a waste."

The rally — the most visible event of "Higher Education Day" in Frankfort, which included lobbying of legislators by students and university alumni and administrators — was scheduled to start at 2:30p.m. But the students began arriving about noon, and a little more than an hour later they were chanting in the Capitol rotunda, amid tighter-than-usual security.

Eight Capitol security officers were present, and as many as six uniformed Kentucky State Police officers who are not normally stationed at the Capitol stood guard in front of Fletcher's office, just outside the rotunda.

Wes Irvin, a spokesman for Fletcher, said the governor's office did not request the added security. No one at the state police office in Frankfort returned a telephone call.

Students, many wearing their school colors, were told by security three times to quiet down, said Eric Fegan, an NKU student and vice president of the student body. "I think they were a little upset with us, but it's a public place," Fegan said.

Fletcher did not address the crowd, and two student organizers said they did not invite him to do so.

Later in the afternoon, Fletcher told reporters: "We certainly respect the concerns that the students have. We realize that they're very concerned about the tuition costs. But ... Kentucky higher education is still a very good value and still is some of the best money an individual and family will spend."

SOME DEMOCRATIC lawmakers supported the students.

Sen. Joey Pendleton, D-Hopkinsville, urged them to return to Frankfort each week until the General Assembly passes a budget that increases higher-education funding.

Rep. Kathy Stein, D-Lexington, said House Democrats sent her to deliver a message: "The House Democrats stand with each and every one of you."

Brittany Kemp, 19, a Morehead State University sophomore from Louisville, said she came to the rally "hoping the legislature will listen" to student concerns.

After the rally, University of Kentucky President Lee Todd told Fletcher at a meeting of the Strategic Committee on Postsecondary Education that the state's universities would support Fletcher in his quest to modernize the state's tax code.

"We have the ability to mobilize support for that," Todd said. But he also told Fletcher that a tax reform plan should bring in more money as soon as possible.

Fletcher told reporters that he was encouraged by the support of the university presidents and that he would like to present a tax modernization plan "soon, and we're working diligently on that." He said tax reform shouldn't be "a political football."

At the strategic committee meeting, the state Council on Postsecondary Education released data showing that in fall 2003, the state's public universities and colleges enrolled 198,621 students, 25.4percent more than five years ago. The figure includes all students, from short-term certificate students enrolled at technical colleges to postgraduate students at the research universities.

Earlier yesterday, the new Inter-Alumni Council, a group of alumni from the state's eight public universities and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, held a breakfast for lawmakers and then lobbied them in their offices for more higher-education spending.

FLETCHER SPOKE at the breakfast and urged the schools to improve their graduation rates, which he said would help improve the state's economy.

Statewide, 43.5percent of students who entered a four-year university in 1996 graduated by 2002, according the postsecondary council. That is up from 38.5percent in 1993, but lower than the overall graduation rate of 55percent for National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I schools for students who entered college in 1996. The data compiled by the NCAA, which tracks the graduation rates of athletes compared to other students, is considered the most comprehensive on graduation rates.

Fletcher said increased rates would lead to more tax revenue for the state because graduates would be working in higher-wage jobs.

House Speaker Jody Richards, who followed Fletcher at the alumni breakfast, said he would fight for higher education, but he did not promise to restore any of Fletcher's proposed cuts.

"We shouldn't look to (higher education) first when it comes to balancing the books," Richards told the council. "The more we take from our universities now the more we take from our future."

Mike Foster, a Hopkinsville Community College and University of Kentucky graduate who is chairman of the alumni council, said budgeting is "all a question of priorities, and we feel as alumni of colleges and universities in Kentucky that education is the number one priority."

The alumni council was formed last year by the postsecondary council, which provides the alumni administrative support. Foster said he thinks the alumni bring additional credibility to the debate over higher education funding, and that lawmakers "on both sides of the aisle are very sensitive to the budget cuts on our colleges and universities."

AT THE RALLY yesterday, students said they oppose the higher education cuts.

"Education should be our top priority — I don't care if it's primary, secondary or higher education," said C.E. Huffman, 21, an Eastern Kentucky University student from Louisville. "It's not a priority in this state and someone needs to stand up and say so."

He said many EKU students are first-generation college students, and they will be hit hardest by tuition increases caused by budget cuts.

"Once you invest in the students, our students will invest in Kentucky," Huffman said.

Kellie Rollins, 21, a junior at the University of Louisville, said students believe cuts in higher education will not solve the state's budget problem. "I think it's going to be harder for lower-income students to pay tuition and reduce the number of scholarships universities can offer," Rollins said.

Gary Ransdell, president of Western Kentucky University, was one of several university presidents who attended the rally. "It's good to see our students focus on making a difference on an issue that's important to them personally and to all of us collectively," Ransdell said.

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Messenger-Inquirer
February 6, 2004

OCTC cuts classes, blames budget woes

Despite waiting lists of students wanting to take classes, Owensboro Community and Technical College eliminated 25 spring courses following state budget cuts this year, OCTC President Jacqueline Addington said Thursday.

The college typically drops 10 to 15 classes each spring because of staff turnover or low course enrollment.

"The bottom line is we have to cut classes because we don't have enough faculty to cover the classes," Addington said. "We're scrimping and saving every dime we can to keep from laying people off."

The college has not laid off any employees, but three vacant teaching positions will not be filled and two other vacancies will be filled with part-time instructors, Addington said.

The college also has at least three vacant support positions that it will not fill, Addington said.

OCTC's budget has been trimmed by more than $400,000 in the past 30 days, Addington said. The latest cut, part of a $41 million give back to the state from Kentucky's colleges, totaled $240,000 of the college's $11.8 million budget, she said. A 2.5 percent cut to state grant programs in January trimmed $169,000 from OCTC's budget.

Western Kentucky University-Owensboro has not been told how the budget cuts this year will affect its campus, WKU-Owensboro Executive Director Marilyn Brookman said Thursday.

"All of our classes have started, so I don't think it will impact anything we offer this semester," Brookman said. "Our president has been meeting with his top administrators, and we should be hearing within two weeks. We're not taking any action until we hear from him."

The cuts to OCTC personnel should save the college $138,000, Addington said.

Addington said OCTC is also trimming costs in other places:

-- Travel -- Cut by $4,000 and limited to necessary travel only.

-- Center for Community and Economic Development and OCTC-TV -- Cut $20,000, which limits programming and work force training opportunities.

-- Technology -- $15,000 cut that would have been spent on new computers.

The eliminated classes contributed to a slight decrease in enrollment this spring compared to last spring, Addington said. Enrollment last spring (3,353) was higher than this spring (3,304) by 1.4 percent.

OCTC has raised more than $1 million in cash and pledges in a fund-raising campaign that should "go public" within a few weeks, Addington said, but little of that money would help the college with operational costs.

The college, however, hopes to raise $350,000 to match a federal Title III grant that would fund an endowment for positions and programs for student retention efforts, Addington said. About half of the match has been raised so far during the campaign's employee and board phases, she said.

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The Daily Independent
February 6, 2004

Higher education budget could reverse progress of recent years
Editorial

In many ways, higher education has never been stronger in Kentucky. But Gov. Ernie Fletcher's proposed budget threatens to bring the progress of recent years to a screeching halt and even shift it into reverse.

First, the good news. College enrollment in Kentucky has risen by 23 percent in just two years. Since 2000, the state's college-going rate has been above the national average. Much of that increase has come at the state's two-year community and technical colleges, but universities like Morehead State also have experienced record enrollments during the last two years.

And the good news is not just limited to those seeking a college education. The number of Kentuckians seeking adult education has jumped from 51,177 in 2000 to 86,413 in 2002. Over the last decade, Kentucky led the nation in improving the percentage of its population with high school diplomas or the equivalent.

All this bodes well in a state that ranks at or near the bottom in the percentage of adults with college degrees and the percentage without high school diplomas. No other factor does more to discourage economic development in this state than an undereducated adult population.

Perspective employers — particularly those that offer good paying, skilled positions — simply are not interested in locating in an area with a poorly educated adult population. That problem is particularly severe in many of the counties of this region — but it is being reversed.

Now the discouraging news. Governor Fletcher's proposed two-year budget provides no new money for higher education in the first year and only $5 million in new funds in the 2005-06 fiscal year. This lack of new funding comes on top of $66 million in cuts to higher education the governor imposed to balance the current budget,

On the positive side, Fletcher's budget does provide some funds for buildings, including $12 million for a second EastPark building for Ashland Community and Technical College and $12.2 million for the space science center at Morehead State.

Kentucky's state-supported universities and community and technical colleges already are under funded when compared to similar schools in other states. In the current biennium, higher education is at least $146 million short of matching the benchmark funding of similar schools elsewhere. Instead of closing that gap, the Fletcher proposals will widen it to at least $315 million. Kentucky cannot afford to go backwards while other states move ahead.

In response to previous funding cuts, schools increased tuition by as much as 20 percent this year. If students again are forced to pay more of the cost of their education, college will become even more unaffordable for young people from families with modest means. Kentucky should be encouraging people to attend college, not discouraging them with soaring costs. After all, we all benefit from an educated adult population.

We recognize the new governor faced the mammoth challenge of trying to balance a state budget without increasing taxes. However, Kentucky could pay dearly in the future for the cuts in higher education it is making today.

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Courier-Journal
February 6, 2004

JCC to reduce classes, spending

Jefferson Community and Technical Colleges will offer fewer classes, leave faculty jobs unfilled and shut down its campuses on Fridays during its summer session because of recent state budget cuts.

Community college officials in Jefferson County say the measures are a result of $914,500 in funding cuts — their share of $10.2 million in reductions to Kentucky community and technical colleges ordered recently by Gov. Ernie Fletcher to help bridge a $261 million state revenue shortfall for the fiscal year ending June 30.

The changes mean some students will have a harder time getting the classes they need to graduate, officials say. Some professors won't be able to attend professional conferences. Needed science labs won't be built. And instructors won't be hired to expand high-demand programs such as nursing — effectively limiting enrollment, officials said.

"Regrettably, these changes will be felt dramatically," President Anthony Newberry said. "They will affect everyone: faculty, staff, students and the community."

Fletcher's administration has said the cuts were reasonable given the "financial crisis" the state is in, and it said many other areas of government also were forced to trim spending.

"Yes, there is some shared sacrifice," said Wes Irvin, Fletcher's spokesman, adding that the governor hopes to restructure the tax system to provide more money in the future. "We're optimistic there will be better days ahead."

Community colleges statewide are closing buildings and limiting enrollment to cope with cuts, even as their enrollment has risen 58 percent since 1998. More than 160 classes are being cancelled at community colleges across the state this year, and $953,000 worth of equipment upgrades will be abandoned, according to Bryan Armstrong, a spokesman for the system.

ABOUT 13,400 students attend Jefferson Community College campuses in downtown Louisville, southwestern Jefferson County and Carrollton and the Jefferson Technical College. They are part of a larger state system of community and technical colleges.

JCC officials said no layoffs are planned and no academic programs would be eliminated.

Although the current cuts won't necessarily continue next year, Newberry expects to face a tight budget next year that will likely make hiring and expanding programs difficult. Fletcher has proposed a budget that includes little increase for 2005, he said.

Newberry isn't ruling out the possibility that tuition, which rose 16 percent last year to $79 per credit hour, could increase next year.

"That's a huge deal for me," 22-year-old student Eric Giancola said. "Every time it goes up it's just more money I have to squeeze out of my rinky-dink, part-time job."

Newberry said the current cuts mark the third year in a row state funding has declined for JCC. Although enrollment at Jefferson Community and Technical Colleges has grown 40 percent since 1998, he said the mounting financial strain threatens his ability to meet a state-set goal of serving 20,000 students by 2014.

With less money, the college can't hire teachers or buy equipment to expand academic offerings, he said. And fledgling academic programs, such as one in biotechnology, likely will stall, he said.

"WE'RE TRYING to expand access to higher education in a state where it's desperately needed," Newberry said. "But with budget cutbacks it's going to be extremely difficult to sustain our growth."

Making do without $914,000 may not seem like a big deal for the state's largest community and technical college, officials said. But the colleges in Jefferson County receive a total of $34 million a year in public funds — including $18 million in state aid. The remainder of the $34 million comes from tuition and fees. Community colleges traditionally operate on much leaner budgets than universities, Newberry said.

Newberry recently told staff, students and faculty of his reduction plan, which includes:

Leaving vacant faculty positions unfilled in anatomy, math, English, nursing, sciences and other areas.

Reducing summer-school course offerings and sections, and canceling classes where fewer than 16 students register. The summer session runs June 9 to August 3.

Closing campus buildings, including the library and other student services, on Fridays in addition to Saturdays and Sundays this summer, and putting employees on a four-day work week. Employees will be able to work longer days to make up the hours.

Printing fewer fall schedules for students and freezing professional travel expenses.

Reducing spending on equipment such as computers and science labs, and cutting back on supplies for technical programs such as auto mechanics.
Randall Davis, the academic dean of the downtown campus, said fewer instructors would worsen waiting lists for critical courses. Classes such as anatomy and physiology already have a semester-long waiting list, one that may grow to two semesters for some students, officials said.

Kyle Senamon, a 25-year-old radiology student, said those courses are needed to enter nursing or radiology programs. Fewer sections of those courses, along with other classes such as English and math, could delay student graduation, he said.

"SOME STUDENTS are really worried this will slow people down in getting their educations," he said. "Those cuts really trickle down."

Senamon also said that many students at JCC must juggle jobs and families as they attend school. Having fewer days to go to the library or to take classes this summer will be a problem for many, he said.

Don Pack, a professor who teaches X-ray technology, said he's concerned about not being able to attend professional development conferences, some of which are needed to renew his licenses. Making do with fewer faculty members means more work for staff and less time for students, he said.

"They keep saying do more with less," he said. "But there comes a time when the service to students starts to break down."

Kentucky's Community and Technical College System, which serves more than 72,000 students and has 62 campuses across the state, said the $10.2 million in cuts this year are landing on top of nearly $8 million in additional cuts over the previous two years.

Next year, Fletcher's proposed budget includes little new money for higher education but would set aside $386 million in bonds to build campus research buildings that he says can spur economic development.

That includes $41.6 million to build technology centers in Ashland, Owensboro, Madisonville, Franklin and Warren County that are connected to community colleges.

Jefferson Community College would not receive any of that, officials said.

To meet ordered cuts this fiscal year, community and technical colleges across the state are cutting back. Hopkinsville Community College cancelled 42 classes affecting 714 students. Ashland Community College is delaying opening a new building and closing another.

Plans to open a craft school in Eastern Kentucky have been delayed, and 14 colleges in the state have halted planned classroom equipment upgrades. Others are limiting enrollment, delaying new academic programs, according to college system officials.

KENTUCKY COMMUNITY and technical colleges President Michael McCall said in a statement that the cuts would affect "students, communities and employers that rely on the education and training we provide."

Potential delays in developing or expanding programs that cater to Louisville job-market demands also concern local employers.

"I can't continue to have a healthy pipeline of workers if colleges don't stay financially healthy," said Kimberly Maffet, division director of work force development for Norton Healthcare, which depends on JCC for employees in nursing, radiology and other fields.

"We need these workers as soon as we can get them."

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Herald-Leader
February 6, 2004

Students protest rising tuitions
Crowd of 300 fills Capitol Rotunda

FRANKFORT - First, they lined the walls of the Capitol tunnel, forcing legislators to run a gantlet of shouts, "The budget's on our back!"

Then about 300 strong, from all across the state, they filled the Rotunda with chants of "two, four six, eight, don't raise our tuition rates!" and "we will vote!"

Yes, Higher Education Day rang from the rafters in Frankfort yesterday, mostly with college students protesting the $64 million cut from public college and university funding this year.

"We're here to raise awareness, to show the legislature that we're proactive," said Rachel Watts, student government president at the University of Kentucky, and one of the organizers of the event.

"They're going to listen to the students who scream the loudest."

The screams were indeed loud. So loud, in fact, that Capitol security finally asked the students to tone it down, which they did -- but only a little.

Reflecting several years of decreased budgets, all seven universities and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System have had to impose double digit tuition increases in the last year. More are expected next fall.

"It's an unfair tax on those least able to pay it," Chris Pace of Northern Kentucky University told a cheering crowd.

Pace took issue with Gov. Ernie Fletcher's position that scrubbing inefficiencies from government will help balance the fiscal 2005-2006 budget.

"Are we waste, fraud and abuse?" he asked. "I refuse to believe investment in education is ever a waste."

Misty Hensley, a student at Southeast Community College in Hazard said tuition increases could prevent some students from advancing in the work force.

"If they want us to get good jobs, they need to keep tuition low," she said. "There's a lot of people who have to work a lot to pay for school and it's hardest on them."

Students are also seeing the amount of available financial aid squeezed because enrollment has risen faster than revenues.

According to numbers released yesterday afternoon at a meeting of the state's Strategic Committee on Postsecondary Education, enrollment in Kentucky's public colleges and universities grew 4 percent this year, and is up 25 percent -- or 40,000 students -- over five years.

The 1997 higher education reform act has mandated a long-term increase of 80,000 students.

SCOPE is a group of policymakers and legislators that oversees Kentucky's higher education policy.

Fletcher joined the meeting and told committee members that improving enrollments would mean better-paying jobs for Kentuckians in the future, and thus higher state revenues and more university funding.

"I do want to emphasize how much this administration understands and how much importance it puts on economic development," he said. "I'm encouraged by what I see."

Fletcher has described higher education as his main partner in enhancing the state's economic development, but has said that all parts of government must sacrifice because of the current budget crisis.

Educators offered tentative support for Fletcher's push for some kind of tax modernization plan this session to increase future revenues.

"I think we're ready to get behind tax modernization, but we need to see a plan," said UK President Lee Todd. "We need to have something happen this session."

Before the SCOPE meeting, Todd and the other presidents took advantage of Higher Education Day in the capital to lobby for more money in the 2005-2006 budget.

And at the meeting, speaking on behalf of all the presidents, he asked committee members to consider letting universities sell their own bonds for building projects.

Todd also said that despite concerns about tuition increases, universities should continue to have authority to set their own rates. "Each institution is quite different and we need the flexibility," he said.

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Business Courier
January 30, 2004

KCTCS preparing budget-reduction plans

After sustaining four funding cuts in three years, schools in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System are preparing budget-reduction plans that may include closing buildings, reducing programs and services and limiting enrollment, according to a news release.

College presidents are determining which functions, services and programs will be reduced at each of the 62 campus locations across the state, according to a news release.

In January, KCTCS sustained two separate budget cuts:

A $4.4 million reduction in its state appropriation for the 2003-04 fiscal year, which ends June 30;
A $5.9 million cut for 2003-04 that will be drawn from a variety of funding sources to help balance the state's budget.
KCTCS also experienced a $3.3 million cut in 2001-02 and a $4.4 million reduction in 2002-03.

Currently, KCTCS schools are bracing for the full effect of the measures and are exploring delaying new academic programs, canceling classes, forgoing purchases of instructional equipment, eliminating extended campus outlets and reducing fire rescue training, according to the news release.

The system comprises 19 community and technical colleges across the state, including Gateway Community and Technical School in Boone County.

 

Herald-Leader
February 3, 2004

Saying, not doing
Editorial

The same night that President Bush said in the State of the Union address that we need to support community colleges, there was a meeting on the Central Kentucky Technical College campus about how to deal with the latest cuts in education funding.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher has passed down these cuts to the Kentucky Community and Technical College System and state universities, supposedly as a means to cure our state's other fiscal ills. In excess of $65 million has been removed from post-secondary education budgets, including restricted funds that had already been distributed and placed into the current budget plan.

In an attempt to recoup these funds, my college is faced with cutting programs, implementing hiring freezes, not renewing faculty contracts, diminishing or eliminating student clubs and activities, reducing training programs in local industries and reducing the thermostats on campus to 62 degrees this winter.

Road signs at Kentucky borders say, "Welcome to Kentucky; where education pays." Yet, Kentucky is No. 42 in the number of people with post-secondary degrees. These cuts will make it necessary for schools throughout the state to limit access and raise tuition, rendering those highway signs even more inaccurate.

Education creates jobs, cures social ills and raises people from poverty. It gives people a sense of pride to become active and productive citizens of this state.

Without the college education system he is now cutting, you never would have heard of Fletcher.

Bill D. Snyder
Assistant professor
Central Kentucky Technical College

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The Paducah Sun
February 5, 2004

WKCTC pulls together for education cuts

The school had to cut an additional $269,000 from its budget through staffing, equipment and travel limits.

West Kentucky Community and Technical College will limit staffing, purchasing and travel this year to meet a $296,000 state funding cut.

Although the reductions, announced to the school's faculty and staff Wednesday, involved difficult decisions, President Barbara Veazey said the college isn't alone in its problem.

"I think we're all pulling together," Veazey said of meetings with other Kentucky college administrators before today's Higher Education Day festivities in Frankfort. "We're not trying to compete with each other and say, ‘Give us the money and cut from someone else.’ These are just tough times and everybody recognizes that."

Veazey said the college was prepared for the initial $243,000 cut announced by Gov. Ernie Fletcher in early January, but not the additional $296,000 cut announced recently.

To meet the reduction, the administration will:

Reduce the campus operating budget by 15 percent, or $60,000, through limiting travel and equipment purchases. Veazey said this reduction affects all academic departments and administrative offices.

Leave two vacant positions for biology and English teachers, plus the spot left last year by former dean of enrollment and retention services Anton Reece, unfilled.

Reschedule or eliminate some evening part-time staff at the campus library, computer labs and tutoring center, plus reduce evening operating hours to two nights a week.

The college's management team made the reductions after lengthy deliberations over the budget, Veazey said.

"We're still evaluating other areas," she said. "This is what we knew we could do right now."

Veazey said other reductions could include eliminating low-enrollment classes next fall. The administration may have to choose between traditional courses such as creative writing and those needed most by the community, such as medical technology training, she said.

Veazey noted that other community college are following more dramatic measures, such as closing campus buildings.

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The Messenger
February 4, 2004

Group lobbies for west Kentucky projects

FRANKFORT — “If my nose was running money, I’d blow it all on you. It’s a booger of a problem that I got. I wish my nose was running money but it’s snot. If my nose was running money, I’d blow it all on you.”

As bluegrass band Kentucky Blue played on the stage of the Farnham Dudgeon Civic Center Tuesday evening, more than 500 west Kentuckians attending the West Kentucky Thank You Night were on the lookout for state legislators with the sniffles.

“These kind of things are meant as sort of a meet and greet, but it turns into a chance to get the ear of representatives and senators,” said Lisa Miller, director of the Madisonville-Hopkins County Chamber of Commerce.

The event was sponsored by the West Kentucky Caucus of the General Assembly to give constituents an opportunity to meet their legislators, maybe lobby for a little state funding here and there, and let legislators know the priorities of the region. Those attending hailed from Paducah to Owensboro down to Hopkinsville and east to Bowling Green.

Hopkins County had one of the largest contingents at the event, represented by about 45 leaders from education, industry, finance and government. Representatives of Hopkins County Fiscal Court, and Madisonville and Dawson Springs city councils attended. Most of the group had traveled to the capital city on a charter bus sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.

While there was plenty of socializing and networking going on among the crowd, Rep. Eddie Ballard said he had talked to quite a number of people interested in his perception of several legislative issues.

Topping the list was the probability of additional funding for the proposed Madisonville Community College Technology Center included in Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s budget proposal delivered on Jan. 27. Fletcher recommended the project be funded at $7 million, about half of its $15 million cost.

The tech center was named the top priority on the Chamber of Commerce list forwarded to Frankfort, with local leaders lobbying Fletcher during the election campaign and during a meeting in Frankfort.

Dr. Judy Rhoads, president of MCC, said she has high hopes for additional funding, considering the center will be closely tied to energy and coal technology training, one of Fletcher’s priorities for economic development.

“Full funding would be great, but there are about 80 projects in the Kentucky Community Technical College System alone, with five other tech centers,” she said. “Madisonville is the only one that falls so short on meeting the total money needed. No one else will have to raise more than $1 million on their own. I know we can raise $1 million, maybe $2 million, but not $8 million.”

Ballard said he would know more about the future of the project once it reaches the House floor.

“The budget is in committee review right now, but I expect that we’ll be able to get more money into the project,” Ballard said. “Much of it depends on how the document comes out of committee. I believe more funding can be found, but without any suggestions on additional revenue sources for the state, there is a question of just how much it can be.”

When asked if he had heard any decent proposals for revenue generating measures for the state, Ballard said he had not.

“The Republicans are not going to suggest anything because the governor is opposed to taxes,” he said. “I don’t know what Democratic members of the House might have in mind, but I do know this — the governor has said he doesn’t want additional taxes, but he has not said he entirely dislikes expanded gambling.”

Ballard said he expects the House to take a month formulating its version of the state budget, before it is sent to the Senate.

“These things take time,” he said. “It’s going to take a little more attention this time because of the shortfalls on the revenue side. Cuts are going to be made, but I hope we can avoid cutting too drastically.”

In addition to the technology center, Ballard said priorities for him during budget talks will be a convention and agriculture exhibition center for Hopkins County and maintaining funding for the state’s veterans nursing homes.

“Kentucky must take care of its veterans,” he said. “Most outside of the areas with the nursing facilities don’t realize how well they care for the residents. They also don’t realize the economic importance of having such a facility in a small community like Hanson or Hazard.”

Sen. Jerry Rhoads said he will keep close watch on the budget process in the House, especially any movement on the tech center funding.

“There’s not much I can do toward securing additional funding until the budget bill leaves the House,” he said. “I am talking with floor members about the project and educating them before the bills gets to us. I do think we will see a bill from the House that continues to support the project. I just wish I knew how much funding to expect. Of course, we would all like to see it fully funded, but these are different days.”

Among recent work for Rhoads is a cooperative effort with House members in support of House Bill 450, which would create the Kentucky Health Care Providers’ Mutual Insurance Authority to provide malpractice insurance to health care providers. The bill provides that the authority is a nonprofit, independent, self-supporting de jure municipal corporation and political subdivision of the Commonwealth.

Rhoads believes such an organization would alleviate the financial pressure on health care facilities and providers paying ballooning insurance rates.

“We are in a crisis in Kentucky with our malpractice insurance for doctors and hospitals,” Rhoads said. “There are physicians leaving medicine because they can’t afford to practice. That’s unacceptable and that’s why I am working closely with House members on the bill. I believe it is a good bill and will pass the House. Support in the Senate could be a tough sell because of Senate Bill 1, which also addresses health care malpractice issues.”

The bills requires the authority to provide medical malpractice insurance to any health care provider who pays the premium and complies with any other qualifications and conditions adopted by the authority. The bill also directs the authority to establish separate rating plans, rates, and underwriting standards for different classes of risks and that those rates be based only on Kentucky data.

House Bill 450 is sponsored by Rep. Rob Wilkey of Scottsville and was introduced in the House Tuesday.

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Courier-Journal
February 4, 2004

Fletcher's budget balances because it betrays so much that's important
Column by David Hawpe

It's not unusual in Indiana for Kentucky to be the butt of humor.

It does surprise me, though, that Republican Mitch Daniel would campaign for the Hoosier governorship by making fun of the state to Indiana's south. Nevertheless, that's what he's doing these days.

On the campaign trail, Daniel does criticize Democrats, but is downright savage about Kentucky.

He told a big Lincoln Day crowd at Terry's restaurant in Bloomington that things are so bad in Indiana, even "Kentucky jokes aren't so funny anymore."

Yet, according to reporter Kurt Van der Dussen, Daniel couldn't resisting telling one such joke:

Question: "Why aren't any police shows set in Louisville?"

Answer: "No dental records. And all the DNA is the same."

Daniel isn't alone. When Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher released his budget, the joke was on Louisville, too.

Fletcher proclaimed a pay raise for teachers, then told local school districts to fund it out of their reserves. The problem in Jefferson County — beyond the foolishness of exhausting the emergency account — is that the reserves aren't big enough. Other cuts will be necessary to finance Fletcher's raises.

Out at the Fairgrounds, the current budget allows the fair board to use its own money to expand the South Wing — a project that will increase the state sales-tax revenue generated by fair board facilities by a third, to more than $40 million. So one might expect a growth-oriented Governor to favor a similarly good deal: the badly needed renovation of the aging East Wing.

Ha, ha. Joke's on Louisville. No money for that.

There's a real side-splitter at the Kentucky Center, too. The Governor is cutting the center's $600,000 annual allocation to $55,000 by the second year of the biennium.

Among the universities, Northern Kentucky will get $42 million to build a regional special events center (concerts, ball games, etc.). But the University of Louisville gets no respect. It needs a $58 million research building, for conducting life-enhancing experimentation and fostering a job-rich biotech center downtown, but Fletcher said, in effect, "Are you kidding?" He told U of L to use $19 million of its own money and raise another $12 million. Meanwhile, Bucks for Brains, crucial to furthering U of L's research agenda, has been denied any new money. (Hard to see the humor in that, at least over here in Louisville.)

Even so, the latest Greater Louisville Inc. "Budget Update" pastes a smiley face over the not-so-funny facts. It says Fletcher "included $38 million for a research facility at the University of Louisville," but doesn't mention that the project will be cut by half, and the second half deferred.

No mention that the Fairgrounds expansion was ignored, along with the prospects for more visitor spending, service jobs and tax revenue.

No mention of the Fletcher budget's threat to local schools, which have been a huge economic development asset.

And no mention that Jefferson was not among the seven counties targeted for construction and renovation of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.

You will remember that Frankfort Republicans bitterly fought what eventually emerged as the KCTCS part of Gov. Paul Patton's postsecondary education reform — perhaps the most successful part of that landmark public policy initiative.

Enrollment in the system mushroomed to more than 72,000 last fall. KCTCS programs touch another 200,000 Kentuckians with job training and continuing education. But with the Republican Senate refusing to raise new state revenue, there hasn't been new money to support the 58 percent expansion of the student body since 1998.

As a spokesman said last week, after four funding cuts in three years, the system is taking steps that will do real damage to Kentuckians' aspirations: limiting enrollment, delaying new academic programs and equipment purchases, closing buildings, canceling classes, eliminating extended campus outlets and reducing fire rescue training.

Republicans are still trying to talk a good economic development game. U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning, for example, just devoted a press release to the Bush administration's Jobs for the 21st Century bill. "Post-secondary education and training has [sic] become an essential requirement, especially here in Kentucky," the senator burbled, adding, "In Kentucky we have great community colleges all over the commonwealth, and they have become increasingly critical providers of job training...." Maybe he forgot to tell his party's Frankfort branch, and its new Governor.

Fletcher bragged about focusing "like a laser" on growing and diversifying the state's economy and preparing Kentuckians for information-age jobs. But his budget won't even let KCTCS operate seven buildings that are already built and ready to open. The system is forced to look at ways to cut back its service to business and industry.

In his GOP-friendly online newsletter, "Kentucky Gazette E-News," publisher Lowell Reese exults that Fletcher has eliminated the state's budget shortfall, without raising taxes. "Instead of a tax increase," he writes, "the proposed budget is balanced through belt-tightening and fund transfers."

"How the state's budgeteers can erase a perceived $1 billion shortfall with such ease is the subject for newspaper editorials to come," he adds.

Why wait? The answer is simple. Fletcher shortchanged Jefferson County, postsecondary education, elementary and secondary teachers and students, Medicaid, prisons, social services, regulatory functions, low-salary state employees, and much more.

That's not funny.

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Kentucky Post
January 30, 2004

Not too excited
Editorial

Don't let the prospect of a little concrete dust blur our vision.

While it's exciting to read that Gov. Ernie Fletcher's two-year budget proposal contains $42 million for our long coveted regional special events center and $14 million for a new building at Gateway Community and Technical College, the budget fails to solve a systemic problem at Gateway and Northern Kentucky University: Simply put, we're not giving them the money to do what we need them to do.

Enrollment and mission have expanded at the two institutions as both have assumed bigger roles in guiding this region's future.

But unless legislators find a way to give them more money after doing their cutting and pasting on Fletcher's $14.9 billion document, both institutions will find themselves contracting, not expanding. NKU expects to jack up its tuition and lay off employees this year, and Gateway faces the humiliating possibility of not being able to open the first building on its Boone County campus when it's finished early next year.

"That's not a threat, that's a fact,'' Gateway President Ed Hughes said. The college estimates it will need $400,000 more for faculty, staff, maintenance, utility costs and other ongoing expenses to run the Center for Manufacturing Competitiveness, but the college's $11.1 million budget has been cut over the last year.

Hughes was writing to local legislators Thursday extolling the virtues of the proposed allied health education building funded by Fletcher but asking them to address the operational needs as well.

NKU President Jim Votruba has the same message. He was pleased with Fletcher's proposal to sell bonds to finance the $52 million special events center, which the school projected could host 120 events a year, including sports events, entertainers, speakers, conferences and other large events. It has been the region's biggest funding priority for three years, made more urgent by the fact that NKU routinely rents space in Cincinnati to hold graduation ceremonies.

But the bigger crisis at NKU is the money it uses to pay professors, turn on the heat and copy class booklets.

The state gives NKU about $41 million of its $128 million budget, which represents about $15 million less than the median funding of similar universities, Votruba said. That's nothing new for NKU, which has historically been underfunded by the state. NKU and The Post's editorial board have noted that again and again. Fletcher showed he agreed when he proposed to set aside $5 million in the second year of the budget for NKU and Western Kentucky University to split. That line item surprised and pleased Votruba, but it didn't placate him.

"It has to be a first step,'' he said. "If that's the last step, it's woefully shy of what we need.''

We agree. Fletcher's budget succeeds politically in that it lives up to his promise of no new taxes and a hold-the-line mentality. But its most basic premise is flawed: What Kentucky needs most is not to retreat but to move forward.

NKU and Gateway are two prime examples of that.

The legislature simply must find a way to increase state funding.

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Cincinnati Enquirer
January 30, 2004

Northern Kentucky's budget prizes
Editorial

Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher's bare-bones budget for 2005-06 found room for a few juicy plums for Northern Kentucky, and now it's up to the General Assembly to preserve them.

The $15 billion budget includes $42 million for a special events arena at Northern Kentucky University and $14 million for Gateway Community and Technical College in Edgewood, where the money will be used to expand an associate degree program in nursing. NKU is the only public university in Kentucky without an on-campus arena.

Northern Kentucky leaders are thrilled Fletcher didn't forget this end of his state, which helped make him Kentucky's first Republican governor in 32 years. NKU recently opened a new $38 million natural science building, and the campus is still reeling from state budget cuts requiring tuition increases that could go as high as 15 percent to 20 percent next fall. Fletcher inherited a budget shortfall estimated at $1 billion, and already has warned that Kentucky colleges and universities would need to "make some sacrifices in the short term." NKU was not counting on a quick response to its wish list for a new arena.

Fletcher proposes to borrow and issue bonds for $328 million in higher education projects, including NKU's arena. He promised during his campaign to balance the budget without raising taxes, and true to his word, his budget roll-out Tuesday made no mention of increasing the 3-cent tax on a pack of cigarettes or legalizing casino gambling.

The ridiculously low cigarette tax is a sacred cow he should be willing to sacrifice, particularly if it could mean restoring some of the education budget cuts. The cuts to higher education required colleges and universities to return $41 million in spending authority, which NKU President James Votruba estimates will cost NKU $4 million this fiscal year. That loss will force tuition increases. Kentucky lawmakers will surely reshuffle Fletcher's budget, and an increase in the cigarette tax, second-lowest in the nation, may start to look more inviting.

Statewide, Fletcher's budget would fund more science and research buildings instead of more endowed professorships. Some dub the funding change "Bricks for Brains" instead of "Bucks for Brains." Fletcher calls regional universities "incubators of human capital." Kentucky lawmakers should back his budget investments in higher education and find ways to keep the tuition rates down.

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Messenger-Inquirer
February 1, 2004

Tech center push a community effort
Editorial

The advanced technology center at Owensboro Community and Technical College is a perfect example of why cooperation among local leaders and setting community priorities are so important.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher announced Tuesday that his proposed budget includes a little more than $13 million next year for the project, and another $10 million will be included in the 2006-08 budget.

The announcement is welcome news for this community, which has watched promise after promise to fund the project go unfulfilled with each passing budget cycle.

While we've been critical of state government for not funding the project, it's also true that happenings at the local level played a role in the delay as well. While always seen as important, the technology center wasn't always a priority for some. And those who did see it as a priority didn't always have a clear vision for what the center would offer.

That began to change somewhat a couple of years ago, when the focus shifted from just bricks and mortar to identifying programs and training that could be offered. The biggest shift in momentum, however, came after the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce crafted a list of community priorities -- and the advanced technology center was placed atop that list.

Local government, the business and education communities and other leaders made that list the focal point for discussions with state and federal officials. It became clear to anyone with access to federal or state dollars -- to anyone who would listen, really -- that Owensboro wanted a technology center, had a vision for how it will serve as an economic development and educational tool and wasn't going to stop talking about it until it became a reality.

It was a message that candidate Fletcher, and eventually Gov. Fletcher, couldn't ignore, and we're pleased that he lived up to his campaign pledge to do what he could to fund the project.

The funding, however, doesn't come without some costs. The dollars for the tech center, and other construction at colleges and universities, is available, in part, because the state is doing away with its "Bucks for Brains" initiative. As much as Owensboro needs the technology center, Kentucky needs to continue it efforts to foster important research. Ideally, the state wouldn't have to choose between tech centers and endowed professorships.

And Owensboro is being asked to make a minimal investment as well. When Fletcher visited the city last month, he said the state will look to help those communities who show a willingness to do their part as well. In this case, Owensboro is being asked to come up with $1 million for the project.

The hope is that local industry will see this is a minimal investment compared with the potential rewards and do its part in coming up with this contribution. In doing so, they will join the many others who've worked to improve the level of education and work force development through this project.

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Messenger-Inquirer
February 1, 2004

Economically, community still has steep hill to climb

The mood at City Hall on Wednesday was appropriately celebratory.

Judge-Executive Reid Haire, Mayor Waymond Morris and a couple dozen other civic and educational leaders were basking in the good news from Frankfort the night before.

The advanced technology center at Owensboro Community and Technical College was included in Gov. Ernie Fletcher's proposed budget. Granted, only a little more than half the money was there -- the rest promised in the first year of the next biennium.

And, granted, the community would have to raise $1 million to supplement the $23 million the state would put up over the two years for the project.

In the optimism and enthusiasm of Wednesday, the $1 million didn't seem like much of a hurdle.

And it probably won't be.

The victory in getting the technology center funded was the culmination of significant lobbying -- and unusual unanimity in a civic and political leadership often fractured.

Haire credited "so many people working together for a common cause" with bringing the technology center to this point.

Morris praised Haire, and Haire praised Morris, a welcome sign of the recent warmth between the two elected leaders who sometimes have been at odds, not just philosophically but personally.

It was a good day.

But if the technology center is important, last week brought a reminder of the steep hill we have to climb if we want to lift this community economically. The center will help -- it is critical -- but it is only a piece of the puzzle.

Just a day before the governor's budget message that included the center, a study commissioned by the Hager Educational Foundation offered some sobering reminders.

On the one hand, the study was on balance encouraging about the community's philanthropic endeavors -- what it initially set out to measure. We do pretty well, compared to similar communities around the country, and given our socio-economic foundations.

But it is those foundations that ought to worry us.

The study found us lagging significantly in what we earn at work. Among the 13 cities examined, Owensboro ranked 11th in average annual earnings per job and 11th in manufacturing's share of all jobs.

Well-paid manufacturing jobs helped give other communities much better marks on median household income and gave them much greater concentrations of households in what might be characterized as solid middle-class incomes.

We need to do a better job of attracting those jobs.

But even more to the point, I think, we need to do a better job of making sure we have a work force educated to fill the skilled jobs that characterize the best manufacturing opportunities these days. And we need to be sure we're prepared to educate and attract workers for highly paid and expanding jobs in the knowledge economy.

The Hager Foundation study, by economist and Owensboro native Paul Coomes of the University of Louisville, reminded us we have some challenges there. We fare well in the number of our citizens with high school education but lag badly in college education and beyond.

Only 17 percent of our residents have a college degree. Increasingly, the college degree is not just some luxury but the basic ticket to jobs that pay well.

Some things we can't change, or it is highly unlikely we can impact. The decisions about where to build interstate highways were made years ago, and we lost.

The Coomes report says bluntly: "Owensboro's failure to get on the interstate highway grid has had dire economic consequences."

Much of the higher-paid manufacturing growth in Kentucky in the past 20 years has been in automotive-related companies. They have sprouted along the interstate highways of central Kentucky.

We can't move Owensboro closer to those highways. But we can impact the educational level of our community. It won't be easy, and it won't happen overnight.

The long overdue development of the advanced technology center at OCTC will help.

But it's only the start. Much more must be done to provide access to higher education, to recruit well-educated newcomers and to convince all of our citizens of the value of higher education. Cultural resistance to higher education still characterizes too many families.

Focusing on that challenge in the next few years may be the most important task our business and political leaders can undertake.

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Courier-Journal
February 1, 2004

Losing education ground

Editorial
WHEN Ernie Fletcher ran for governor, he promised, "Above everything else, a Fletcher/Pence administration will be committed to improving the state's educational climate." His first budget has done just the opposite.

"We must be aggressive and proactive, not visionless and vague," he warned. But the only reach in his 2004-2006 plan for higher education is the reach for political cover.

By running up some new debt to finance a few buildings, he can claim to have paid some attention to the state's public campuses. But the basic funding he proposes, the earlier cuts he now makes permanent and the new cutbacks he necessitates ensure that our state system of higher education will lose ground.

Candidate Fletcher told voters they shouldn't "settle for mediocrity." But he is ensuring worse.

Two years from now, Kentucky's universities will be even further from parity with their officially designated benchmark counterparts elsewhere.

In defending his tens of millions of dollars in budget cuts, Gov. Fletcher said universities must become more efficient while keeping tuition affordable. In fact, they have been doing just that: educating record numbers of new students but doing it with fewer faculty and staff per student.

If you don't believe it, check the numbers. In 1993, the universities and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System had one employee for each seven students. In 2002, it was one for every eight students. Back in 1993, the student-staff ratio was 9.7 to 1. In the most recent count, it was 11.2 to 1.

Our public campuses are doing more, and doing it more efficiently. But instead of being supported, they are being slapped in the face. No money for continuing the success of "Bucks for Brains." No new money at all in the first year of the budget. A token $5 million in "new" base funding for 2005-2006, which will do little or nothing to repair the damage done by $66 million worth of cuts the Governor imposed earlier this year on top of the cuts of earlier years.

Former Gov. Paul Patton actually did improve the state's educational climate, with early childhood education initiatives, reorganization of the post-secondary system and such quality-building efforts as "Bucks for Brains." The Fletcher budget has "Bricks for Brains," and little else. The system needs so much more.

In the current biennium, higher education funding was at least $146 million short of simply matching the benchmark funding of similar schools elsewhere. Under the Fletcher budget, the gap will grow to at least $315 million.

Other states are moving ahead, while Gov. Fletcher proposes that Kentucky fall back.

What a tragedy, just as real higher education reform has begun to pay off.

By 2000, the state's college-going rate had risen above the national average, and college enrollment had risen 23 percent in just two years. Adult education mushroomed, from 51,177 enrolled in 2000 to 86,413 in 2002.

Over the last decade or so, Kentucky led the nation in improving the percentage of its population with high school diplomas, and we're getting more and more of those folks into post-secondary education.

We're even grabbing human capital from elsewhere. In terms of "net immigration" of college freshmen between 1989 and 2000, Kentucky ranked 20th nationally, gaining about 1,300 students annually. In net immigration of bachelor's degree recipients during the same period, Kentucky ranked 18th nationally, gaining 21,000 graduates.

One of the reasons is that Kentucky schools have remained affordable. But how long will that be true, if paltry state funding forces them to keep raising prices?

Students are paying record tuition this year — as much as 20 percent more than the year before in some instances. Administrators had to make up for cuts of $17.3 million in 2001-2002 and $24.4 million in 2002-2003. Only $18.9 million was restored later.

Then came the Fletcher cuts and now comes the Fletcher budget, making even higher tuition inevitable next year. For schools already taking steps to operate more efficiently, and already turning students away from overcrowded classes, this means cutting into the meat and marrow of programs and services.

The Fletcher budget does nothing to restore campus hopes, unless you're there as a contractor to put up one of those "Bricks for Brains" buildings.

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The Daily Independent
February 1, 2004

Educators ponder Fletcher budget

ASHLAND Ashland Community and Technical College and Morehead State University are looking for cuts they can make in their own budgets after getting Gov. Ernie Fletcher's spending proposals last week.

At the same time, they're relieved Fletcher recommended funding major building projects. The governor's budget includes $7.2 million for MSU's $12.2 million Space Science Center and $12 million for a second building at ACTC's new campus at the EastPark Industrial Park at Coalton.

Unfortunately, the money for the EastPark facility is only half what the Kentucky Community and Technical College System requested, said ACTC President Greg Adkins.

And there is still no money budgeted for operating the just-completed first building on the new campus, at least for the upcoming year, Adkins said.

However, there is money in the second year of Fletcher's budget to operate the EastPark center, Adkins said.

For Morehead State, Fletcher's budget authorizes use of $5 million in yet-to-be-appropriated federal funds in addition to the state money for the space center, said vice president of university relations Keith Kappes.

"The downside is that we get none of the money back that's been cut over the last three years," Kappes said. "What it means is there's no new money for additional health care costs, pay raises or other additional fixed costs," he said.

Also, classes could be bigger and tuition hikes could be higher than expected, although those matters haven't been discussed yet, he said.

ACTC already has planned to delay equipment purchases, including computers and software, Adkins said.

The college also will reduce its advertising budget, raise the minimum class size for summer courses and delay some preventive maintenance at both campuses, he said. "The parking lot at the College Drive campus won't be paved in 36 months," he said.

No layoffs or furloughs are expected, Adkins said.

Those are spending reductions based on cuts Fletcher already has imposed. The governor's budget locks in the reductions for the next two years, Adkins said.

Both ACTC and MSU will lobby the General Assembly for more money in the final budget. "We want to make sure our legislative delegation is aware of the impact (on the EastPark center)" Adkins said. ACTC needs enough money to both finish the campus and fulfill its ultimate aim — to move all its Roberts Drive operations there, he said.

Legislators may be sympathetic, Kappes said. "I think there are some major differences, as there were two years ago, in the General Assembly," he said. The house Democratic majority has some concern about the education budget that could be in Morehead State's favor, he said.

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