In 2008, Louisiana’s budget for higher education was about $1.5 billion. Five years later, by Louisiana Commissioner of Higher Education Joseph Rallo’s calculation, that total had been cut in half.
As last year’s legislative session began, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s initial budget request for higher ed was $123 million, Rallo says, reiterating to Business Report in a feature from the current issue what he told the Higher Education Stakeholder Collaborative at that time. In other words, Jindal followed up five straight years of cuts by asking to slash another 82% from the previous year’s $750 million allocation.
That scenario was perhaps 45 minutes and one SAVE Act from becoming reality before lawmakers ratified a new budget on the session’s last day, Rallo says. And it’s one that college and university leaders and supporters would rather not re-enact as this year’s special and regular sessions approach.
“We’re appreciative to the legislators for their support,” he says. “[But] nothing has changed in how higher ed is funded, in terms of stability and certainty.”
The Board of Regents put together the Higher Education Stakeholder Collaborative, which includes all of the state’s college and university system heads, as well as representatives from Louisiana Economic Development, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, Greater New Orleans Inc. (standing in for all of the state’s chambers), the Committee of 100, the Louisiana Workforce Commission, the Workforce Investment Council, Blueprint Louisiana, the Louisiana Budget Project, the Council for A Better Louisiana and the Public Affairs Research Council.
“Everybody recognizes that the status quo’s untenable,” says Louisiana Budget Project Director Jan Moller. “It was a very useful exercise to get everyone around the table.”
The group held meetings over several months last year to create a higher ed agenda to present to the next governor, says Regents board member Richard Lipsey, chairman of wholesale firearms distributor Lipsey’s. He says they met with each of the four top candidates, including John Bel Edwards, who would eventually go on to win the gubernatorial race.
The collaborative produced a “strategic impact report” organized around three key themes: economic development, innovation and promoting the value of education. “Elevate Louisiana! Educate & Innovate” was declared the new tagline for higher ed. Now it’s trying to get statewide buy-in of the strategy. Read the full feature, and send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
