SEMO may avoid cut in state funding with amended budget proposal

Southeast Missouri State University could receive the same amount of state appropriations as last year for fiscal year 2013 if Gov. Jay Nixon signs off on an amended budget approved by a Senate committee Thursday.

The $24 billion budget underwent approximately $86 million in cuts at the hands of the Senate Appropriations Committee compared to a version approved earlier by the House. Social services ended up taking the hit in the Senate with a proposed $28 million taken from a program that pays some medical expenses for nonqualifiers of Medicaid on the state's blind pension.

Nixon's original budget called for a $106 million cut to higher education that would have reduced state appropriations to public universities by 12.5 percent. The outlook became a bit better in February when the governor announced $40 million could be added back to the plan to benefit the schools because the state is set to receive those funds from a settlement with mortgage lenders.

Funding equal to last year's levels was restored for universities in the House, and an extra $2 million was added to appropriations for Southeast. But in the latest Senate version of the budget, the university won't get that money after all.

Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, said Thursday that the plan not to give the university the $2 million worked for him.

"It never should have been put in to begin with," he said. "I think we are in a position where we are making priorities of flat funding, so we are restoring the governor's cut, and I am in agreement with that, but this is not a year to go do earmarks for anyone's district."

Crowell said the extra funding would not have affected the university's decision to raise tuition, which president Ken Dobbins has said is likely. By law, tuition can't rise above the rate of inflation, or around 3 percent per year.

Dobbins said the $2 million added in the House was for the university's enrollment growth, which has grown from around 7,900 in to more than 11,500 today. If the university had received the funding, it would have been used for enhancing recently added academic programs, such as a cybersecurity program and an agriculture program the university has worked to expand into its southern campuses, Dobbins said. It could have also been used to determine whether tuition would go up at all, he said.

Chances are, according to Dobbins, there will still be a tuition increase.

"Right now we are going to have to wait and see if any indications come out of the governor's office," he said.

Still, an increase could be minimal, Dobbins said, and a review by the university's budget committee would need to be done before anything would be known for sure. He said if an increase is implemented that it would be necessary because of the cost of education and because some of the money funding the university is one-time money.

Rep. Wayne Wallingford, R-Cape Girardeau, said a tuition increase would hurt the region because salaries haven't caught up with the cost of education.

"You're going to knock some people out that wanted to go to a four-year institution but now, because of all the cuts, won't be able to. That's sad when that happens," he said.

The Douglas C. Greene Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship could also lose some funding from the state if the Senate's cuts are approved by the governor. Dobbins said the cut could mean a reduction in services to the community.

Around $35,000 could be lost to the center because of $1.36 million transferred from Missouri Technology Corp., under the direction of the Department of Economic Development, to the Department of Higher Education. The Missouri Technology Corp. facilitates funding for the state's 10 innovation centers. The programs at the Cape Girardeau center are also funded through grants from the U.S. Small Business Administration, Delta Regional Authority and other entities.

Crowell said the Senate committee's proposed cut to the center is not connected to his opposition to a tax amnesty bill, which supporters said would provide $70 million for the state's budget in combination with more aggressive tactics to collect owed taxes.

In the next few weeks, Crowell said he would continue looking at a way the center could still receive the funding.

The budget now moves to the full Senate, and a committee of House members and senators are likely to meet to negotiate the differences. Their deadline to finish is May 11, one week before the end of the session.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

eragan@semissourian.com

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