Officials in the Oregon University System are still spinning their wheels after Gov. John Kitzhaber released a budget proposal last Monday that called for $830 million in program cuts. Now all eyes are on Kitzhaber, who will be able to propose a budget that includes ways of raising money instead of just cutting programs. The governor was constitutionally required to make an initial proposal that balanced the budget solely through program cuts.
Kitzhaber wants a budget that will satisfy the Oregon Legislature, which will convene as early as Feb. 8 for a special budget-balancing session. The state’s budget has fallen into the red because of lower-than-expected income tax revenues and the highest unemployment rate in the nation.
Tim Young, student board member for the State Board of Higher Education, said that tuition would have to be raised at least 22.5 percent under the governor’s current budget proposal. A State Board of Higher Education report said at least 1,000 students in the university system wouldn’t be able to afford Oregon tuition if Kitzhaber’s proposal goes through.
“You could easily double that figure,” Young said. “We are striving for mediocrity, and failing. If this were a grading system, we’d get kicked out of school.”
John Wykoff, legislative director for the lobbying group Oregon Student Association, added that academic programs would have to go.
“We’re talking about permanent program cuts,” he said. “You don’t rebuild programs overnight.”
Wykoff likened the current budget crisis to problems after Measure 5 passed, which revised Oregon’s property tax rules. When that measure passed in 1990, the University was forced to eliminate the School of Health and Physical Education and other popular programs. The governor’s budget would cut 8.1 percent of the University’s funding.
Provost John Moseley has indicated that the University can absorb a 5 percent budget cut without serious difficulty, but officials at other institutions, such as Oregon State University, are less optimistic.
“We are disproportionately hit,” OSU Provost Tim White said. Budget cuts have already been felt at Oregon State, where 34 classified employees got a pink slip last week.
Kitzhaber’s current budget proposal slashes $5 million in state support for a top-tier engineering school, cuts $17.3 million from extension services and forestry programs and trims research funding by 20 percent. White said that OSU is bearing the lion’s share of these cuts because some of the university’s largest programs are concentrated in engineering, forestry and research.
White said that OSU has already “done a remarkable job of curtailing spending.” The university won’t cut any academic programs or change their plan for a top-tier engineering school. “We’re not cutting the (new) college. We’ll simply raise the money with private funds,” he said.
Young said that higher education must not be cut by 10 percent.
“If the current budget goes into effect, I will leave the state and never come back,” he said.