Friday, May 6, 2005 | 10:21 a.m.
University system officials lost a major battle Thursday in their fight to increase funding levels after lawmakers on the state's joint legislative finance committee voted to cut $23.5 million from the governor's recommended operating budget.
The cut will mean a loss in revenue for all seven of the University and Community College System of Nevada's teaching institutions, with the Community College of Southern Nevada hardest hit, according to system officials.
"To take this action in a year that the state has money to spend, and which is essentially punitive to an institution badly in need of money, the logic just escapes me," Dan Klaich, vice chancellor of legal affairs for the system, said. "It's just strange."
Gov. Kenny Guinn recommended in his budget proposal that the system be funded at 84 percent of its formula, but he also overestimated how much that would cost. UNR, CCSN and Great Basin College all have lower than expected enrollment numbers for the next biennium and will receive little to no new funding over the next year.
The state's institutions receive funding based on the number of full-time equivalent students over a three-year, rolling average. The formula is based on the average cost to fund similar institutions in other states, meaning that if the institutions were funded at 100 percent of the formula, they would be on average with their peers.
Due to budget constraints, state lawmakers have long funded the system at about the 82 to 83 percent level, and system officials have continuously grappled with lawmakers to be funded at a higher percentage level. This session, university system officials have asked for 87 percent.
By simply allowing the system to keep the $23.5 million Guinn overestimated, that would increase the formula to 85.5 percent in 2006 and 85.9 percent in 2007 without costing the Legislature any extra money, system officials have argued. Guinn had supported the request.
Led by Assemblyman Morse Arberry Jr., D-Las Vegas, chairman of the Assembly Ways and Means committee, state lawmakers nixed that request, deciding that they'd rather revert the $23.5 million to other state needs. The joint committees voted to keep the funding formula at 84 percent with incremental increases each year of the biennium.
Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, argued against cutting the system's budget because he didn't "buy" the enrollment projections.
"I think the enrollment is probably going to be higher than this," Coffin said.
Because of the expected decreases in enrollment projections at UNR, CCSN and Great Basin, the three institutions will lose money from the governor's original proposal no matter what level the Legislature votes on. CCSN lost $17.5 million in the enrollment reshuffle over the biennium, while UNLV gained about $2.9 million because their enrollments climbed over the initial estimates.
Guinn had initially estimated CCSN's enrollment to grow by nearly 7 percent each year, but the revised enrollments cap that growth at just over 3 percent, Patty Charlton, vice president for finance and administration at CCSN, said. The community college remained almost stagnant in growth this year because they ran out of space to put students, Charlton said.
The "small swing in students" caused a "big swing in dollars," Klaich said. If lawmakers insist on keeping the formula at 84 percent, CCSN will receive only $862,000 in formula funded dollars for 2006 and $3 million for 2007.
If lawmakers allow the system to keep the $23.5 million, about $4 million more would go to the cash-strapped school, Klaich said. All seven institutions would see a much-needed increase in funding, with UNLV benefiting by an additional $8.9 million.
System officials say they are hopeful the finance committees will reconsider the decision when they meet next.
"That's our number one priority and we are not going to stop beating that drum regardless of what we heard today," Klaich said.
System officials are also hopeful that several other one-time shot initiatives, such as improving technology infrastructure, doubling the nursing capacity and increasing enrollment at the medical school will be funded. The joint committee did not vote on those initiatives Wednesday, and the Senate and Assembly committee members split on whether to fund the dental school's fourth year of students and whether to allow the universities to keep 100 percent of their research dollars.
The lawmakers also moved to adjust the operating budget to account for a change in the way remedial classes are taught. The universities will be eliminating these classes from their courseload in 2006, sending those students to the community colleges. Lawmakers felt the money should follow the students.
University officials had argued that the universities wouldn't lose enrollment growth by eliminating the classes because it would free them to offer more general education classes.
The joint finance committee did approve most of the governor's recommendations for the system operating budget and approved several appeals made by the system to correct errors in the budget to their favor.
State lawmakers also approved a university budget request this morning to subsidize about $6 million in athletic scholarships for students at UNLV and UNR. The money will reimburse the two universities for the revenue lost when athletes do not have to pay registration fees and out-of-state tuition.
Lawmakers voted not to extend the athletic fee waivers to the Community College of Southern Nevada and Western Nevada Community College, deeming it inappropriate.
The remaining items in the system's operating budget still need to be approved in the Senate Finance and the Assembly Ways and Means committees and then approved by the full floor.
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