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The last time higher education in Louisiana was fully funded, residents were sporting sansabelt slacks and laughing along with first-run episodes of M*A*S*H. A lineup of governors have taken and retaken office in the interim, watching as the yearly budget for higher education was invariably cut.

Now, oddly enough, it looks as if a lame-duck governor will finally be able to get the higher-education system fully funded. Gov. Kathleen Blanco goes into the current legislative session armed with a budget surplus and a growing revenue stream, confident this is the year higher education makes it through the Legislature unscathed.

The 34-page, higher-education budget—filed this session as part of House Bill 1—includes $196 million in new state revenue for higher education and $30 million for faculty pay raises. It is currently assigned to the House Appropriations Committee, chaired by bill author Rep. John Alario, D-Westwego.

The higher-education budget consists of recurring expenditures, so to fully fund it for only one year would do little to create a long-term impact. The good news, according to supporters, is that fully funding the higher education funding formula requires less than 15% of new recurring tax revenues. Getting the budget passed should mean continued funding in the future.

Conversely, there are no more similar revenue spikes expected for the state in the near future, so this could be the last hurrah for some time if higher education doesn’t receive its funding this year.

“For decades, we have said we are too poor to adequately fund higher education,” Baton Rouge Area Chamber CEO Stephen Moret says. “If we can’t adequately fund higher education in a year like this, we will never get it done.”

BRAC has fully endorsed Blanco’s higher-education budget, including support of enhancements such as increased operating funding for the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. For the organization, an improved higher-education system is a necessity to further its goal of economic development. Perhaps no organization without a direct tie to LSU has banged the drum louder than BRAC when it comes to forwarding the university’s flagship agenda. “A research university is to economic development in the 21st century what manufacturing was to the 20th century,” Moret says.

The governor’s agenda is being met with significant support from higher-education leaders across the state. Sally Clausen, president of the University of Louisiana System; William Jenkins, president of the LSU System; Joseph May, president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System; Louisiana Commissioner of Higher Education Joseph Savoie and Ralph Slaughter, president of the Southern University System each signed a letter in support of the executive higher education budget. The group highlights 10 “critically important” features of the budget (see chart).

“The governor understands that a vibrant economy and social future for Louisiana depends on improving the educational attainment of our citizens,” the letter reads. “We applaud this bold proposal and pledge to work together closely during the upcoming legislative system session to make Gov. Blanco’s educational vision for our state a working reality.”

Even with the apparent momentum of the higher education, getting through the Legislature untouched is no sure thing. History is certainly not in the plus column; if getting a fully funded higher-education system was easy, it wouldn’t be so long since the last time it happened.

While the governor’s support for higher education has a lot of allies, some organizations such as BRAC see weaknesses in other aspects of the budget for the 2008 fiscal year. One such shortfall is a lack of recurring revenue to be dedicated to roads (legislators would be required to lift the state spending cap to go along with Blanco’s proposal to spend $450 million in surplus on roads).

Moret feels the budget could be heading for a train wreck without a recurring commitment to roads. That, in turn, leaves the higher-education budget at risk.

Should a battle begin to reallocate money for various areas, tradition indicates that higher education, along with health care, will be the first to lose out. While Moret argues that the money is available to fund higher education and address other issues, there simply isn’t the lobby presence in place to protect it from a careless ax. “Higher ed simply, in a state like ours that has not yet come to value higher ed, is probably the weakest part of the budget,” Moret says.

That possibility isn’t dampening the optimism coming from LSU. Chancellor Sean O’Keefe says the university is excited at the prospect of having $1,500 to $1,600 more to spend per student, pushing the school in line with regional averages.

“We’re preparing our folks on campus as if this is going to happen,” O’Keefe says. “I think we’ll be able to persuade legislators it’s a worthy investment.”