College looks for more money

Saturday, Feb. 10, 2001 | 10:21 a.m.

Of the $3 million requested for the new state college's operating fund, Gov. Kenny Guinn recommended $1 million be approved. That would leave enough money to pay administrative salaries, but not enough to hire teachers, print class schedules or recruit students.

Additionally, the governor's proposed spending amount for building the campus was $16 million compared with $26 million requested by the Board of Regents and the college's founding president, Richard Moore. That budget would reduce the school's square footage from 137,600 square feet to 100,000.

"The governor's budget is less than an ideal situation for us," said Orlando Sandoval, interim vice president for planning and administration. "It's not going to be impossible, but it would make it more difficult."

A committee met Wednesday to plan how it will allocate the money proposed in the budget. The committee will make recommendations before requests are taken to the Legislature in May. That's when the decision on how the state's $756 million for higher education will be spent.