THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 15, 1995 TAG: 9512150495
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
Gov. George F. Allen will propose roughly a $240 million increase in funding for higher education in the next two years, but none of that will go for faculty raises next year, college presidents were told Thursday.
Under the proposal, professors would get no raise next year but an average 5 percent increase in 1997. Other college employees would get nothing next year and an average raise of 3 percent in 1997.
Members of the Allen administration outlined the budget plan in what was billed as a ``confidential'' meeting with presidents of state-supported colleges and top higher education officials in Richmond Thursday. Allen will reveal his entire blueprint Monday.
The plan provides a mixed blessing for college officials. Allen is meeting demands from Democratic legislators and state business leaders for at least a $200 million increase in college funding in 1996-98, to help make up for deep cuts in the early '90s.
But in the first year, he is allotting nothing for what many saw as the No. 1 financial priority - faculty salaries.
Since 1990, Virginia has given professors average salary increases ranging from zero to 3.6 percent, trailing the national average every year. Compared to similar schools across the country, Virginia colleges generally fall in the bottom third in average salaries. College officials have worried that the best faculty members, facing demands to teach more but getting minimal rewards, will begin moving to other schools.
The bulk of the $240 million would go for other budgetary items, such as buildings and technology.
College officials declined to comment on the budget Thursday. But Robert L. Ake, chairman of Old Dominion University's Faculty Senate, said a year without raises could pose a breaking point for his colleagues.
``I think this is the year they're going to snap, quite honestly,'' said Ake, an associate professor of chemistry. ``I would predict those that can, will move, and more will go on the job market. And the level of dissatisfaction will grow. It's very hard for faculty to knock themselves out day in and day out and go unappreciated when it comes salary time.''
Old Dominion released a study in the spring showing that 25 professors, including three current or former department chairmen, had left within the last year for higher-paying jobs.
``I thought the data ODU supplied showing the exodus of faculty was kind of telling,'' Ake said. ``If this, in fact, holds, it would say to me Allen hasn't read the tea leaves as he should have. He's going to work at decimating the higher-ed system from what it's been.''
Steve Janosik, the state's deputy secretary of education, declined to provide any details about the prospective budget. ``The briefings that the governor has had have been confidential. We will be releasing the information Monday.''
Gordon K. Davies, director of the State Council of Higher Education, who attended the meeting, also declined comment. Sen. Stanley C. Walker, D-Norfolk, who is expected to become chairman of the Senate Finance Committee next month, said: ``Certainly, faculty salaries are a top priority with the presidents and a whole lot of people. But I don't think I ought to make too much comment until I have a chance to be briefed.''
Democratic Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr. had said Wednesday that he wanted a $200 million increase in higher education, including raises for faculty. The State Council of Higher Education listed faculty raises as the top priority in its recent budget recommendations to Allen.
If Allen didn't propose at least a $200 million increase, higher education funding was expected to be among the top issues of contention in the General Assembly session, which begins next month.
His proposal ``reconfigures the issue in a very interesting way,'' said Robert Holsworth, a political scientist who is director of the Center for Public Policy at Virginia Commonwealth University. ``On the one hand it suggests a commitment to institutions, but not necessarily to the people who are delivering the service.''
But he added, ``I don't believe the college presidents and the Democrats in the General Assembly will simply take his distribution formula. This provides an opportunity for the Democrats. They'll keep the money, but they'll side with the presidents in reconfiguring it differently. You'll hear Democrats talk about human capital being just as important as technological capital.''
The budget blueprint is a marked shift from Allen's proposal for the 1995-96 school year. He had sought $59 million in college cuts, including eliminating all funding for the Norfolk campus of Tidewater Community College, which is now under construction.
Allen said the cuts would eliminate inessential programs and would help support a tax cut. But his effort drew strong opposition - including a critical letter issued by three former governors, two of them Allen's fellow Republicans. Legislators eventually torpedoed most of the cuts.
``Allen's opponents were extremely adept in explaining how cuts in higher education would undermine Allen's own agenda in economic development,'' Holsworth said.
``. . . That damaged Allen's agenda considerably, not only in higher education. This is an attempt to remedy that problem.''
Thursday's meeting itself was interpreted as an attempt to improve his relationship with the higher-education community. Presidents usually don't get an early word on the budget.
Allen also invited the college presidents and members of college boards to a reception at the governor's mansion Tuesday night as a gesture of good will. MEMO: Staff writer Warren Fiske contributed to this story.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Gov. Allen will reveal his entire budget proposal on Monday.
KEYWORDS: BUDGET COLLEGE UNIVERSITY SALARY by CNB