Comparisons: Other universities also suffering from cuts, p. 6
Baseball: RB Spencer Ware to compete for outfield position, p. 15
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LOOKING BACK
June 2010
LSU System asks University to prepare exercise for a possible 23-percent cut in state funding
Aug. 19, 2010
North Gate: Buffalo Wild Wings opens, p. 3 Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011 • Volume 115, Issue 70
Jan. 10, 2011
December 2010
Chancellor Michael Martin announces the exercise has grown to 35 percent — it shrank to 32 percent in the next few weeks
Higher education officials are told to prepare plan for a possible 10-percent cut in state funding
LSU System President John Lombardi postpones Board of Supervisors meeting to unveil the 10-percent cut plan
New projections could mitigate extent of cuts Latest budget exercise calls for 10-percent reduction Higher education cuts to be decided during ‘cliff year’ Xerxes A. Wilson Staff Writer
Even with talk of a lesser cut in the coming year, optimism is in short supply with the University administration. With the state facing a $1.6 billion budget deficit, how much budgetary belt tightening the state budget will require is still up in the air, according to Chancellor Michael Martin and Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Jack Hamilton. LSU System President John Lombardi raised eyebrows last week when it became clear that a 10-percent budget cut exercise was in the works. This is the third exercise in the past six months, and the 10-percent figure is substantially less than the 32-percent cut employed last semester. “As we continue to attempt to address the budget prospects for the coming fiscal year, having gone through cut exercises up to 32 percent, it now has been
suggested that the lower 10-percent target we last asked you to work on may be more severe than what the Executive Budget will require,” Lombardi said in a System news release last week. Although Gov. Bobby Jindal confirmed through various news organizations his intentions of keeping the cuts to colleges at a minimum, Hamilton and Martin stressed the uncertainty left with these “random” exercises. “I don’t think we are in a position to be optimistic or pessimistic right now,” Hamilton said. “I think the governor has talked about the cut possibly being lower than 10 percent, but it is not clear how he arrived at that figure and what assumptions he made.” Martin predicts what he labels as the “net cut” to be higher than 10 percent because of mandated costs forced upon REDUCTION, see page 10
Matthew Albright Staff Writer
The state’s ongoing budget crisis will come to a head this semester as state leaders attempt to fill a projected $1.6 billion budget deficit for the coming year. That number was confirmed Thursday when the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference, the body that estimates how much cash the state will have to spend, declined to alter the revenue adjustments. In previous months, lawmakers have referred to this year as the “cliff year,” when expiring federal funds will mean deeper cuts to departments that have already been trimmed by cuts during the past few years. That cliff year means potentially drastic cuts to higher education. State higher education officials released a plan last semester at the request of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s Division of Administration to deal with a potential 32-percent cut in
state funding. That plan, released by LSU System President John Lombardi early last month, would result in students paying significantly more in tuition and fees. However, policymakers hinted last week that the cut may be much less than 32 percent. Last week, Lombardi called off a meeting of the Board of Supervisors scheduled for Jan. 21. University heads were to release a plan to cut 10 percent at that meeting, but it has now been suggested the lower 10-percent target may be more severe than what the Executive Budget will require. Jindal said last week he was “hopeful” cuts to higher education would be less than 10 percent, according to news reports. University administrators emphatically caution that the decreased cut is by no means certain. The smaller cut would hinge on the CLIFF YEAR, see page 10
‘I think the governor has talked about the cut possibly being lower than 10 percent, but it is not clear how he arrived at that figure and what assumptions he made.’
LOOKING AHEAD
Jack Hamilton, provost and executive vice chancellor
Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration unveils preliminary budget to be approved by the Louisiana Legislature March 11
Legislature convenes for “extraordinary session” March 20 - April 13
Legislature convenes for regular session April 25 - June 23
Final day of session: finalized budget becomes law, higher education cuts “set in stone” June 23
graphic by MATTHEW JACOBS; photos by DAVID LYLE, XERXES A. WILSON and file / The Daily Reveille