Friday News Roundup: Week of August 13-17

Clare McCann
This post originally appeared on Ed Money Watch.

Kansas Board of Regents makes budget recommendations

West Virginia colleges address requested budget cuts

North Dakota governor proposing $545 million in tax relief

Louisiana university will lose 130 jobs in historic budget cuts

Kansas Board of Regents makes budget recommendations
The Kansas Board of Regents this week agreed to narrow its budget requests for fiscal year 2013 and will submit its budget to Governor Sam Brownback’s office next month. The request was reduced from $194 million to $78 million during its meeting. Kansas University’s request for $2.5 million to launch the Kansas Institute for Translational Chemical Biology was declined, but other requests did make the cut. The final list includes $2.8 million annually to fund Kansas University’s Wichita medical school campus, thanks to the early results of an evaluation of the school; $30 million to put towards construction of a medical education building at the KU Medical Center; and $20 million more than appropriated in fiscal year 2013 for deferred maintenance. Additionally, the state’s higher education block grant will grow by 1.7 percent ($12.4 million) in 2014, salaries will increase by 1 percent ($18 million), and two-year schools would receive $8 million more than in 2013. The governor will submit the budget to the legislature at the start of its new session in January 2013. More here…

West Virginia colleges address requested budget cuts
The West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education voted Thursday to approve a resolution promising not to increase tuition at any of its 10 schools if the state agrees not to cut its fiscal year 2014 budget. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin had proposed an $85 million budget cut, or 7.5 percent across most state agencies; the state’s Higher Education Policy Commission has already requested an exemption from the cuts. The chancellor of the Community and Technical School council noted that its schools may raise tuition by as much as five percent annually without approval anyway, but the councilmembers hoped to head off the cuts before they took effect. Some state agencies are exempt, including K-12 education; if financial aid for postsecondary students is exempted, the cuts to community and technical schools are expected to increase to 8.72 percent. More here…

North Dakota governor proposing $545 million in tax relief
North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple this week issued a proposal that would cut taxes by $545 in the fiscal years 2013-2015 biennium and reform the state’s funding formula for elementary and secondary education. The tax cuts would come from property and income taxes (both for individuals and for corporations), but would also reduce school district taxes by 50 percent. The reduction in school taxes, Dalrymple said, should be considered a permanent part of the state’s K-12 school funding formula. More here…

Louisiana university will lose 130 jobs in historic budget cuts
University of New Orleans president Peter Fos this week announced plans to cut the school’s spending by $12 million in the current 2013 fiscal year. The school’s budget has been cut by about $28 million since January 2009, but even tuition increases allowed under a new law passed by the state legislature weren’t enough to offset the cuts this year. He plans to lay off 16 staff and leave 30 faculty positions vacant. Other faculty members have accepted early retirement. The total 130 jobs cut are equal to 7.5 percent of the school’s work force, and the savings will reach about $3.3 million. Declining enrollment of 7 percent from fall 2009 to fall 2011 also contributed to the budget cuts. More here…