Gov. Ted Kulongoski is proposing the first major budget increase for higher education in approximately 20 years.
University President Dave Frohnmayer said the proposed budget, which calls for a 17.1 percent increase from the 2005-07 biennium, said the budget proposal marks a reinvestment in higher education.
“This is the best proposal by a governor for higher education since I’ve been president,” he said.
The governor allocated more than $594 million in the proposal for new construction projects which included funds for the Integrated Science Complex at the University of Oregon, a lab facility due to open in fall of 2008.
The governor also proposes revamping and fully funding the Oregon Opportunity Grant, bumping up funding from $78 million to $152 million so that by 2009, all eligible students will be served.
Oregon University System spokeswoman Di Saunders said the State Board of Higher Education was “very pleased” with the budget, especially with the governor’s investment in the Oregon Bio-Economy and Sustainable Technology signature research center.
“What’s unique is how much it is linked to economic development and research,” she said of the program, which would support partnership with those in the private industry.
The governor also proposed the legislature extend its commitment to keep tuition increases to no more than increases in the median family income on a yearly basis, about 3 percent per year, for the coming biennium.
While all saw the governor’s proposal as an upturn in funding for higher education, many said that much of the increase will go to repairing the damage done by substantial cuts over the last two decades.
The University has a roughly $100 million backlog of maintenance that has not been performed, and faculty salaries are lagging, Frohnmayer pointed out.
“We have build backs to do in faculty salaries and in state support for students,” he said. “We never assume we can build back in one biennium.”
Oregon Student Association spokeswoman Courtney Sproule said students have waited too long for change.
“After years of students paying more and more and getting less and less, students are excited to see the governor take the first steps in reprioritizing post-secondary education,” she said. “But it’s time.”
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