House Speaker Chuck Kleckley vowed today to fight a proposal floated by Gov. Bobby Jindal to slash hundreds of millions of dollars from Louisiana colleges next year, thus setting the stage for a possible financial clash between the lame-duck governor and lawmakers.
The Associated Press reports Kleckley—a Republican typically allied with the governor—says he’s heard talk of higher education cuts that could reach up to $370 million in the budget year that begins July 1. He said such a reduction would devastate campuses and state workforce development efforts.
“It doesn’t make any sense. Cutting higher education to that magnitude would not set us back years—it would set us back generations. It would go against everything we’ve done in economic development,” Kleckley, R-Lake Charles, tells The AP. “I will not support a budget, I will not vote for a budget that has this kind of cut for higher education.”
As the governor reaches his last year in office, the Jindal administration is crafting its final executive budget proposal, which is due to lawmakers by the end of February, while facing a shortfall pegged at $1.4 billion. The financial gap may grow larger to account for the steep drop in oil prices.
Target figures of possible cuts for the 2015-16 fiscal year are going out to departments as the Jindal administration looks for ways to slice spending, with a goal of shrinking state support for each agency by 15%.
The state health department has been told to prepare for losing as much as $250 million in state money, a reduction that also could jeopardize hundreds of millions of dollars in federal matching dollars for health care services. Read the full story.
