UNLV to finally get fair share of funds

Jeffrey Libby

Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2000 | 11:37 a.m.

One hurdle remains to what could prove the resolution of a decade-long university funding feud between Northern and Southern Nevada.

UNLV President Carol Harter announced Tuesday at her State of the University address that a legislative committee has unanimously approved a new funding formula for state higher education that reflects new needs posed by technology and increasing student enrollments.

"After many years of frustrated in-fighting over the issue, parity, if not equality, of funding has been won," Harter said in her speech on campus at Judy Bayley Theatre.

The Legislature still must approve the new funding formula when it convenes in January. But in an interview following her speech, Harter said that with several powerful legislators serving on the recommending committee, including Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, it is likely "their conclusions will be validated by the whole Legislature."

Studies conducted last year by independent financial analysts showed a $7.6 million state funding imbalance between the University of Nevada, Reno, and UNLV, lending credence to many educator's sense that UNLV was the unsung stepsister of the system.

Critics of the formula complained that UNLV received $534 less per student than UNR. And with enrollments increasing more quickly in the south, those same education officials predicted that the imbalance would only worsen.

"It is a fact that a considerable amount of money will shift south. And it is a fact that money will shift to the community colleges," said James Richardson, Nevada Faculty Alliance representative on the committee and a UNR faculty member.

"But I was pleasantly surprised that we were able to achieve the kind of outcome that developed. There was a time when I thought it was hopeless."

Despite the funding shift, UNR President Joseph Crowley said his university should not be hurt by the new formula. He pointed out that a significant part of the package is a five-year plan to ease in salary adjustments for new and replacement teaching positions -- a major issue through discussions. That budgetary flexibility would be aided initially by tapping into money from the estate taxes fund, if approved.

"The bottom line is, I do support this strongly," said Crowley.

The new formula also recognizes the increasingly significant role played by community colleges, both in their partnerships with high schools and in educating more undergraduates as UNLV becomes more of a research institution, said State Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, another committee member and a professor of political science at UNLV.

The proposed funding formula should address increasing pressures to keep up with technology demands, said Regent Steve Sisolak of Las Vegas, also a committee member.

New provisions also require that institutions fund all programs equally by percentage if total budgets are underfunded by the Legislature, as they often are, Sisolak said.

In past years, institutions could, and did, transfer money from one program to another to account for underfunding, Sisolak said, creating budgetary complications in the following biannium.

Harter credited the collaboration of representatives from the north and south in reaching agreement on a variety of complex issues.

"We brought together all these folks and came to one conclusion. There was a remarkable sense of collaboration," said Harter. "The result will be a much more fair distribution between the two universities and among the community colleges."