June 14, 2002
Dear Colleagues,
With the conclusion of the 2002 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature, I would like to update you on the most significant developments affecting higher education. While higher education did not receive all of the funding enhancements the Governor proposed, progress was made in assisting our university's financial position. We are most appreciative of the Northeast Legislative Delegation's overall support for funding for higher education in general and for specific allocations to ULM in particular. I would like to thank all of you who contacted the Legislative delegation to express your encouragement that the Legislators support revenue measures and higher education funding proposals. You can be assured that your efforts were a major contributor to our success during the session.
I continue to make our case in Baton Rouge with the Board of Regents and Board of Supervisors for additional revenue from the unallocated pools of funds, because every extra dollar we receive will better position ULM. Final budget allocations should be received within the next few weeks and final budget requests are to be submitted to the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors at its August meeting.
ULM's state appropriation to the general fund budget for fiscal year 2002-03 should remain the same as last year except for an increase in funding to pay for mandated civil service merit increases and increased health benefits premiums. Additionally, through the efforts of several of our area legislators, the University should receive $500,000 for land acquisition and $400,000 for major repairs and maintenance projects as part of the state's capital outlay funding.
Other capital projects approved for funding included Sandel Hall renovation, $8.3 million; Health Sciences Building renovation and expansion, $14.6 million; Biedenharn Hall renovation, $5.4 million; and Airway and Computer Sciences building, $1.3 million. Additionally, the Board of Regents received $15 million in funding for competitive grants in the biotechnology area for which ULM can submit funding proposals and $6.4 million in performance and quality improvement funding for which the University will also compete. ULM will receive a currently undetermined portion of the $400,000 in funding approved for the state's teacher assessment project as well as an allocation of funds for library and scientific equipment acquisitions.
While these numbers are encouraging, almost all of these funds are earmarked for dedicated purposes. Therefore, we are still struggling with our operating budget situation. At the current time, we are estimating that we will receive an additional $1.15 million dollars in state appropriations. However, due to the continuing enrollment decline (estimated in the three-year budget plan to decline by 10%) and the elimination of out-of-state tuition we will lose approximately $1 million in tuition revenue. Therefore, our budgeted revenue will be approximately the same as last year. When we look at the expenditure side of the equation, it appears that we will have required additional expenditures of over $1.8 million. These mandatory increases are projected to be:
- $350,000 for scholarships due to the 3.4% increase
- $250,000 for increases in utilities
- $266,000 in required civil servicesalary increases
- $808,250 for increases in group health insurance
- approximately $50,000 in additional expenditures for leases
- approximately $140,000 for increases in the transfer to athletics attributed to the teaching and recruiting portion of coaches salaries
The mandatory increases do not include priority-spending needs for student life, recruitment and retention initiatives, recurring maintenance, research, planning, nor institutional commitments to grant programs such as CASS and the Howard Hughes Grant in biology. Provost Richters and I estimate that we will need to reallocate at least $2.5-$2.8 million to satisfy all of our current needs. We have been working diligently with your deans and directors to utilize the work done by many of you when we asked earlier in the year for plans to help us develop the budget. In addition, we are making many very difficult personnel and organizational decisions that are necessary in the short run, but will position us appropriately for the future.
Some of these decisions have already been announced. For example, the consolidation of Pure and Applied Science and Liberal Arts and the consolidation of our three health science colleges, which are explained in the accompanying letter from Interim Provost Richters, will contribute to addressing our budget problems. However, the most important reason for these consolidations is that both will position the institution to move forward as we begin our academic planning process.
Over the next few weeks we will be finalizing the budget, and we will be making many funding decisions. We are also prioritizing our needs so that any additional revenue ULM realizes next year from any source will be invested in our most critical areas. If possible, all budget decisions will be discussed with the appropriate dean and /or vice president before they are incorporated into next year's budget. I plan to continue to use this format to inform you of these decisions. Some will, out of necessity, be made by me using the best information available. We continue to need your ideas and support as we proceed through this process. Please feel free to contact your department chair, dean, vice president, or me, as many of your colleagues have already done, and offer your suggestions. We received many ideas on ways to address the current financial situation. Some are small; some are large; some are workable; some are not so workable; but every idea causes us to question why and how we are currently operating.
The decisions we make in the next few weeks are but the first step in rebuilding the fiscal integrity of our campus and especially our academic programs. The faculty-driven academic planning process that we intend to start this fall, and the inclusive strategic planning processthat we intend to start next spring will guide our budget decisions over the next two to five years. Those next few years will be a period of constant change as we reinvent this institution to better serve the citizens of Louisiana. As I said in my first address to the Faculty, "I urge you to remember that --- like each of us --- ULM will never be what it was, and it is not what it is going to be. The nexus between the two is the challenge that must be faced by all of us and should be a hallmark for our decision-making."
James E. Cofer, Sr.
ULM President