State board applauds gov.’s budget

The governor’s recommendation for an increase in the state’s 2007-09 higher education budget has left many involved in Oregon universities with high hopes, but some system members say that there is still a disinvestment in faculty salaries and an exacerbation of the increasingly high student-faculty ratio.

Most of the line items in the original 2007-09 Oregon University System recommended budget, including increases to faculty salaries and funds to reduce classroom size, were reduced by the governor’s office. At the same time, capital repair-projects to repair deteriorating buildings-was fully funded, up from $23.7 million in 2005-07 to $83.5 million.

The higher education budget was created by OUS in September, adjusted in the governor’s office in December, and now awaits approval by the state Legislature this month.

The September OUS budget requested an increase in faculty salaries of $29 million system wide, but the governor reduced the salary increases to $8 million from general funds and $12.5 in emergency funds-emergency funds to be used to cover the cost of faculty living adjustments. The money will be split among the seven Oregon universities.

Funds to reduce the student-faculty ratio in the governor’s budget, most of which would be used to hire new faculty members, are $6.9 million, $11.1 million less than OUS requested. An additional $6.9 million to reduce the ratio could be set aside next year as well, according to Jay Kenton, vice chancellor for finance and administration for OUS. This might let OUS hire around 68 new faculty members.

The governor’s budget must still be approved by the Oregon State Legislature, meaning that the budget could come back with considerably less funds for the Oregon universities, according Roy Koch, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Portland State. The governor’s budget includes $827.1 million in general funds and $31.5 million from lottery funds for all seven Oregon universities, out of a total $14 billion for the entire state budget.

The OUS original general fund budget recommendation was $922.6 million before it reached Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s office, $95.5 million more than the governor’s recommended budget. The governor’s recommendation is still $94.7 more than the 2005-2007 biennium budget, which was $731.6 million.

In an OUS meeting held last Friday, Jay Kenton called the budget a “new era in higher education finance.”

“It is very clear that the governor is making education a priority,” Kenton said.

Faculty salary increases could be reduced even more when the budget goes through the Legislature, said Neil Bryant, special consultant to the board on legislative affairs. The Legislature is “not really keen on faculty salaries,” he added, because they do not understand how it will make faculty teach better.

Bryant, a former state senator, said that some of the justification for lack of interest in raising faculty salaries in the Legislature is the impression that most faculty members are receiving outside income for their research, and that they are only putting in a few hours of work per week.

“The faculty are still paid higher than most people in Oregon and most people in the Legislature,” Bryant said.

Mina Carson, president of the Interinstitutional Faculty Senate, said she understands where the senators are coming from, but that the Legislature is not realizing how much work faculty members actually put into their jobs, including required research and out-of-class meeting time for students. She said productivity and job performance among Oregon’s university faculty members have been great over the years, but that could change if faculty members do not receive the money they deserve.

“We are productive because, frankly, we are good,” Carson said. “But we can’t keep up that level of productivity. Every year we are serving students less well.”

State Board of Higher Education board member and President of the Associated Students of Western Oregon University Gerry Blakney said he is bothered by the board’s desire to sit back and accept the governor’s recommended budget. Faculty salaries are incredibly important, more so than maintenance and construction, he said.

“Buildings are great, but you have to have warm bodies in the buildings,” Blakney said. “You can get a lot of work done in old buildings.”

Most of the OUS board agreed in the meeting on Friday that the recommended budget was good for Oregon’s higher education program, but that more work must be done in order to put the universities on the right financial track. Vice President of the State Board of Higher Education Kirby Dyess said the universities need to try to not get caught up in spending their new money and should put most of it away in a rainy day fund.

“This is not a sustainable budget,” Dyess said. “It’s incredibly important we don’t jump on this bandwagon of me, me, me, me, me. The thing that will kill us in the long run is this kind of stuff.”

Koch said in years past, PSU has received about 20 percent of the total OUS budget, but there will be a set of discussions that will give PSU an opportunity to have a larger amount.

Kenton said that this budget is the first installment of what OUS plans to request in the coming biennium. He said it is not a solution to the system’s problems, but a first step out of many.

“We will be back for more,” Kenton said.