Louisiana’s higher education leaders are ramping up pressure on state lawmakers, seeking a decision on taxes rather than more months of financial uncertainty.
A $1 billion state budget shortfall looms on July 1, when temporary sales taxes expire.
“We are asking our legislators, please, to firm up the bottom line for higher education, no matter what that looks like, as quickly as they can. Gather in a special session and use that time wisely,” LSU System President F. King Alexander wrote in a letter published in The Advocate.
Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards wants a tax package passed in a February special session to replace the expiring revenue, but he’s been unable to strike a deal with House Republican leaders. The governor will present a proposal Friday for cutting the full $1 billion from next year’s budget, and he’s warned it will hit public colleges—one of the least protected areas of the budget—hard. Also expected to be on the chopping block is the TOPS free college tuition program that helps 50,000 students cover costs.
Higher education officials worry a partisan dispute could linger through the regular session and lawmakers will keep the spending plans unfinished, forcing a last-minute special session on the budget and taxes to be called in June. They say campuses must make decisions on faculty hiring, course offerings and student programs—and students will make their choices—before then.
“Debates during the legislative session will assume that all planning is on hold until a budget resolution emerges in June. But that assumption is at odds with the realities of higher education planning, which means that the threats to our institutions will be magnified by this impasse,” Commissioner of Higher Education Joe Rallo said in a statement.
