THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 30, 1996 TAG: 9609300038
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 140 lines
Virginia college leaders already preparing for next year's legislative session - have targeted faculty raises and student financial aid as their twin priorities for increased funding in 1997.
The college presidents, along with officials of the State Council of Higher Education, have crafted a proposal seeking an increase of at least $42 million in higher education funding for the 1997-98 school year. The leaders say the increase is needed - even after they won an extra $450 million from Richmond this year - to make up for 20 percent budget cuts under former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder.
Their top priority would be an extra $18 million for faculty raises. That, the schools say, would lift 1997-98 raises, already budgeted at an average of 2 percent, to this year's level of 5 percent.
The schools are also seeking $24 million in additional money for financial aid.
``I think that's certainly within the realm of possibility,'' Old Dominion University's president, James V. Koch, told the school's Faculty Senate last week while outlining the proposal.
The plan would have to be approved by Gov. George F. Allen and the General Assembly.
Ken Stroupe, the governor's press secretary, said education is high on Allen's agenda, but added that it's too early to commit to specific figures. ``We are just in the very early stages of trying to gather the best revenue estimates that we have,'' he said, ``so it would be unfair or premature to speculate on what would or would not be included.''
Sen. Stanley C. Walker, the Norfolk Democrat who is co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said he's sympathetic to increases in both areas. ``There's really going to be budget constraints,'' he said. But ``we ought to try to do the best we can to come up with some (more) monies. If we don't continue to move forward, it's going to weaken us.''
Walker noted that next year's legislative session, which will begin in January, is an off year in Virginia's two-year budget cycle. Legislators earlier this year approved a two-year state budget for 1996-98. In 1997, they will reconvene to consider adjustments to the final year of the budget.
Koch said individual colleges will also petition for a still-uncalculated sum for an assortment of projects. But he said they will not ask for any more money for new construction. The colleges' $450 million windfall from Richmond for the 1996-98 period includes about $170 million for new construction.
There is also a downside for colleges in the new budget proposal: The state council is considering taking away small amounts of money budgeted for enrollment increases from some schools that didn't meet their projections this fall. ``It wouldn't be the end of the world if it happens, but it will be a little painful,'' Koch told the faculty at ODU, one of the universities that didn't meet its projection. Norfolk State University would not face a reduction.
College officials say faculty salaries still have not recovered from the early '90s, when annual raises were almost always kept below 3 percent and sometimes bypassed.
Before then, most Virginia universities had been at the 60th percentile in faculty pay compared with their counterparts across the country. That meant that the average salaries at each Virginia school exceeded the averages at most similar institutions in the country.
But the budget cuts pushed most Virginia colleges down to the bottom third in their pay categories, said Gordon K. Davies, director of the State Council of Higher Education.
``I'm not prepared to name names, but the presidents of major universities have told me that they are losing people to competitive offers and are having a very great difficulty recruiting to their faculties the people who are their first choices,'' even after the approval of the 5 percent raise for the 1996-97 year, Davies said.
Paul D. Metz, president of Virginia Tech's Faculty Senate, noted that the state had calculated that it would take four straight years of 5 percent raises to bring Virginia back up to the 60th percentile.
``We've had absolutely horrible erosion of faculty compensation since the Wilder years,'' he said. This year's 5 percent raise ``just begins to rectify the problem.''
In the last session, legislators did not consider financial aid increases for public colleges, primarily because of a two-year tuition freeze that they approved from 1996 to 1998.
But Davies said more money is still needed for aid.
In the early '90s, Virginia did pump more money into financial aid as it was permitting double-digit tuition increases. The aid increases didn't keep up, Davies said. In the late '80s, the colleges were able to meet 50 percent of students' financial need; that number has dropped to about 35 percent.
The proposal would increase Virginia's annual allotment for financial aid from $63 million to $87 million a year. That would put Virginia back to the 50 percent mark, Davies said. With the increased aid, ``more students would be able to persist through to a degree, without having to take time out to work or be saddled with large amounts of debt when they get out.''
Norfolk State students reacted positively to the idea Friday. ``It would give more people an opportunity to go to school,'' said Lemel Jones, a senior from Louisiana. ``That should be the bottom line.''
The first hurdle the proposal faces is at the State Council of Higher Education itself. The members of the agency, appointed by Allen, are expected to vote on the budget recommendations at their next meeting, a week from today.
In the past, council members routinely endorsed budget recommendations made by the agency staff. But in the last year, the members have signaled a growing inclination to question the staff's thinking and a reluctance to automatically endorse new projects.
Elizabeth A. McClanahan, the chairwoman of the council, said she had not yet reviewed the proposal. But she said, ``I do support faculty salary increases because I think we need to be in a more competitive position to retain and recruit the best faculty.''
She also said the raises should be considered because the universities, after prodding from the state, have enacted ``post-tenure review policies,'' designed to more closely scrutinize the work of senior faculty members. ``Particularly since colleges and universities stepped up to the plate and addressed this issue, we should reward our excellent faculty members across the commonwealth,'' she said.
Whatever recommendations are endorsed by the council members will go to Allen's office. He is expected to release his budget proposal on Dec. 20, Stroupe said. Legislators will begin meeting in January to craft their version of the budget, which will go to Allen in February. ILLUSTRATION: Gordon K. Davies, director of the State Council of
Higher Education: With the increased aid, he said, ``more students
would be able to persist through to a degree, without having to take
time out to work or be saddled with large amounts of debt when they
get out.''
College leaders are seeking $24 million in added money for student
financial aid. ``I think that's certainly within the realm of
possibility,'' Old Dominion University's president, James V. Koch,
told the Faculty Senate this week.
Sen. Stanley C. Walker, a Norfolk Democrat, is co-chairman of the
Senate Finance Committee. ``We ought to try to do the best we can to
come up with some (more) monies. If we don't continue to move
forward, it's going to weaken us.''
GRAPHIC
THE LEADERS OF VIRGINIA'S COLLEGES WANT MORE MONEY FOR:
FACULTY RAISES: An extra $18 million, which would boost pay
increases from the budgeted 2 percent to the 1996-97 level of 5
percent.
STUDENT FINANCIAL AID: An extra $24 million, which would allow the
state to meet 50 percent of need, as it did in the late '80s.
KEYWORDS: HIGHER EDUCATION BUDGET by CNB