When it was created last year, a $40 million incentive fund to pay for college programs that fill high-demand jobs in Louisiana was hailed as critical to both higher education and the state’s workforce needs.
Now, with the state grappling with deep budget problems, The Associated Press reports that Gov. Bobby Jindal is proposing to strip financing from the fund that only months ago he described as among his top priorities.
At Jindal’s urging, lawmakers set up the Workforce and Innovation for a Stronger Economy Fund to link higher education money directly to projected workforce demand. They steered a mix of tax dollars, construction funds and other money to the WISE Fund in this year’s budget.
College leaders praised the effort, saying it was one of the state’s most significant higher education investments in years, a rare infusion of cash for campuses that had seen their state financing cut by hundreds of millions since 2008.
“We view the WISE Fund as one of the most forward-thinking public policy efforts that this state has seen in a long time,” says Monty Sullivan, president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System.
But with Louisiana facing a $1.6 billion budget shortfall in the fiscal year that begins July 1, Jindal is considering cuts of $300 million to $400 million to public colleges. And WISE is on the chopping block.
The budget proposal talked about by the Jindal administration “guts WISE completely,” says LSU System President F. King Alexander. “We’re trying to hang onto it.”
The governor’s budget recommendations are due to lawmakers by Feb. 27, and the Legislature will craft a final version of the spending plan in the session that begins April 13. Legislative leaders are looking for ways to stop deep higher education cuts. Read the full story.
