Legislative Update April 22, 2009: House Passes Higher Education Bill

Legislative Update April 22, 2009
By Russ Stanton, IFO Director of Government Relations

House Passes Higher Education Bill
Moments ago the House of Representatives passed the Omnibus Higher Education Bill by a vote of 86-46.

The bill would appropriate $665.8 million each year in FY2010 and FY2011 for MnSCU. This would include $65.2 million each year in federal stimulus money. This is the same funding level proposed by the governor. Where the House bill differs from the governor’s proposal is in the funding base for 2012 and 2013; the governor proposes $606.6 million for each of those years, whereas the House proposes $654.5 million for each year.

The House bill clamps down on MnSCU central office funding and prioritizes campus funding for instruction. It creates a separate line item for central office funding and then shrinks that amount. It says allocations to the campuses cannot be less than this biennium. It cuts funding for central office technology and eliminates funding for central office initiatives such as awards for excellence, salary competitiveness (IPSEL grants), technology initiatives outside the allocation model, and Board and Chancellor’s initiatives.

The bill also changes the process for selecting the MnSCU Board of Trustees. Instead of having the Governor appoint trustees, the bill would have the legislature elect the trustees in the same way they elect the U of M Regents.

The bill allows a waiver process from the policy limiting associate degrees to 60 credits and baccalaureate degrees to 120 credits. The waivers would be for emerging and innovative programs.

Amendment Attempts
The House voted down several attempts to limit student fees.

Rep. Steve Gottwalt (R-St. Cloud) offered an amendment that would have forced all higher education employees that make over $100,000 to take a 5% pay cut. After being informed that his amendment would put federal stimulus money in jeopardy, and that it violated the U of M’s constitutional autonomy, Gottwalt withdrew his amendment.

Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R-Wabasha) then offered an amendment to cut higher education employees making more than $100,000 by 10%. He specifically went after provisions in the IFO contract, such as the final year two step increase, supplemental retirement, and the $6000 performance bonuses (which no one has received). Drazkowski said anyone making more than $100,000 should contribute to solving the state’s budget shortfall; to which Majority Leader Tony Sertich responded, “You’ll get an opportunity to vote on that when we take up the tax bill”. Drazkowski’s amendment was defeated 130-2. Only Drazkowski and Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington) voted in favor of the pay cut.

Campus Legislators’ Votes
Here is how campus area legislators voted on the final bill: Rep. John Persell (DFL-Bemidji), yes; Rep. Larry Howes (R-Walker), yes; Rep. Morrie Lanning (R-Moorhead), no; Rep. Paul Marquart (DFL-Glyndon) yes; Rep. Larry Haws (DFL-St. Cloud), yes; Rep. Steve Gottwalt (R-St. Cloud), no; Rep Marty Seifert (R-Marshall), no; Rep. Kathy Brynaert (DFL-Mankato), yes; Rep. Terry Morrow (DFL-St. Peter), yes; Rep. Gene Pelowski (DFL-Winona), yes.
All of the legislators representing Metro State campuses voted yes.

Conference Committee
The Senate passed their Omnibus Higher Education Bill last week. Now the House and Senate versions of the higher education bills will go to a ten member House/Senate conference committee that will work out a final compromise bill.

Latest IFO Legislative Update: 4/2009 MnSCU Universities Dealing with Budget Issues

MNSCU UNIVERSITIES BRACE FOR BUDGET CUTS
by Connie Howard, IFO General Counsel

As the current budget crisis has unfolded over the past six months, the Inter Faculty Organization (IFO) represented faculty who have been bracing for the worst as university administrations have begun planning to deal with unprecedented budget cuts. Early settlement of the IFO’s 2009 – 2011 contract with Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) and the prospect of millions of dollars of temporary federal stimulus money have improved prospects. However, all of the MnSCU universities are scrambling to take steps to cut costs to deal with anticipated budget short falls.

So far only the administration at Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSU Moorhead) has announced that it anticipates retrenching probationary and tenured faculty. To encourage voluntary separations to reduce the need for lay offs, MSU Moorhead has entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the IFO extending the deadline for applying for unreduced Early Separation Incentive (ESI) and Early Notice of Retirement (ENR) benefits. The Faculty Associations at Bemidji State University (BSU) and Winona State University (WSU) are negotiating with their universities to offer similar incentives.

Minnesota State University Moorhead - Moorhead has been hit by the triple blows of declining enrollments, state budget crisis and devastating flooding. According to MSU Moorhead FA President Cindy Phillips, the university is facing up to a $9.2 million decline in revenue for the 2009 – 2010 fiscal year. Of that figure, $4.2 million is a structural deficit resulting from the university’s failure to revise staffing levels as enrollments have declined. In addition, MSU Moorhead faces a $4 to $5 million shortfall as a result of the state budget crisis.

MSU Moorhead President Edna Szymanski first announced that the university was contemplating retrenchment – defined by the IFO/MnSCU contract as lay offs of probationary or tenured faculty – at the first university meet and confer in 2009. Since that announcement, the university has been evaluating and implementing a variety of cost cutting steps.
The administration has frozen searches on 11 vacant faculty positions and has made non-faculty staffing cuts. As noted above, the IFO and the university negotiated an MOA to encourage voluntary separations by extending the deadlines for faculty to apply for ESI and ENR benefits. The deadline for faculty to give notice of their intent to take advantage of the incentives is April 30, 2009. The number of faculty who choose to leave to get the benefits offered by the MOA will impact how many faculty will be retrenched.

Dr. Phillips says she anticipates that final decisions regarding faculty lay offs at MSU Moorhead will be announced at a meet and confer scheduled for May 7, 2009. Meanwhile, President Szymanski has asked deans to prepare recommendations for 5%, 10% and 15% budget cut scenarios. In addition, faculty have been working jointly with the administration to prioritize academic programs. Input from faculty and other interested parties will be evaluated by the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the University Budget Committee. However, the President will make the final decisions regarding budget cuts. St. Cloud State UniversitySt.

Cloud State University (SCSU) is bracing for a revenue shortfall of between $5 and $11 million for the 2009 – 2010 fiscal year. In preparation for a worst case scenario, President Earl Potter has asked each of his vice presidents to identify budget cuts equal to 7.5% ($11 million) of their budgets. However, President Potter has suggested that actual cuts are more likely to total between $5 and $6 million. The university does not plan to reduce its budget for adjunct faculty or for extra duty days. A number of cost cutting steps are being implemented that will affect faculty directly, including:

Freezing searches to fill 74 of 125 faculty positions currently vacant. Only 51 out of 125 requested searches are proceeding -- 35 for probationary and 16 for fixed term positions.
Eliminating 33 FTE of non-contractual reassigned time assignments. Faculty who lose reassigned time for other purposes will be assigned to teach additional classes to help backfill the 74 vacant positions, leaving over 40 positions unfilled.

Covering some of the over 40 vacant faculty positions by increasing average class sizes.
According to SCSU Faculty Association President John Palmer, the overwhelming majority of the budget reductions on the SCSU campus will be borne by faculty. Dr. Palmer says he anticipates “no retrenchment or ESI, just more work for the same pay.”
Minnesota State University MankatoAs of mid-March, Minnesota State University Mankato (MSU Mankato) was projecting a worst case budget deficit for the next biennium of $8.83 million. According to MSU Mankato Faculty Association President Don Larsson, all colleges have been asked to plan for budget cuts of up to 10%, but have been told that when cuts are made they will be targeted rather than made across-the-board.

Twenty-two (22) staff layoffs have been announced and a number of staff vacancies are going unfilled. MSU Mankato President Richard Davenport has announced significant administrative reorganizations. The Division of Student Affairs is being eliminated, along with the positions of Vice President for Student Affairs and two Assistant VP positions, among others. Faculty, students and staff have put forward about a dozen reorganization models for consideration. Dr. Larsson will be on a leadership group that will consider these models and make a recommendation by the summer. The Dean of Extended Learning has stepped down, and oversight of that office—which includes extended campus, the new satellite campus at 7700 France Avenue in Edina, and components of online learning—will be the responsibility of the Vice President for Strategic Partnerships Bob Hoffman. Several staff positions in the College of Extended Learning are among the recent cuts.
Following the settlement of the IFO/MnSCU collective bargaining agreement, President Davenport retracted plans to cut $900,000 earmarked to fund graduate assistants. However, Dr. Larsson reports that adjunct and fixed term vacancies are being cut in many departments and many probationary vacancies are being left unfilled or are being staffed temporarily through fixed term searches. No programs have been slated for program closures, but the FA anticipates that next year we will see some announcements department reorganizations and/or program cuts.

Winona State University - WSU anticipates a $4.2 million shortfall over the next academic year. According to WSU Faculty Association President Bruce Svingen, the administration has announced that it does not anticipate laying off any probationary or tenured faculty. However, WSU does intend to save between $770,000 and $1 million during the 2009 – 2010 year by eliminating some faculty and staff positions and leaving others vacant temporarily. WSU cost cutting plans include:
Eliminating one (1) faculty position in the Education Department.
Leaving vacant one (1) faculty position in Foreign Languages.
Cutting 10.6 FTE of non-contractual reassigned time.
Limiting the number of sections of multi-section courses to maximize the seat count per section.
WSU is exploring the possibility of entering into an MOA to extend the deadline for applying for ESI and ENR benefits for faculty in designated departments.
Dr. Svingen reports that after an initial attempt to persuade WSU faculty to take voluntary furloughs, the administration has backed off that idea. Instead, faculty are being encouraged to contribute to a voluntary fund. However, Dr. Svingen noted, the university has offered no guarantee that any money contributed will be used to save jobs, only that it will go towards deficit reduction.

Southwest Minnesota State University According to Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU) Faculty Association President Jan Loft, thus far the administration on her campus has avoided uttering the “R” word (Retrenchment). However, the administration has proposed drastic steps to address the projected $2.6 million deficit for the 2009 – 2010 year. Those measures affecting faculty directly include:
Leaving vacant two (2) new faculty positions that had been approved, but whose funding was eliminated by the 2008 – 2009 unallotment.
Not renewing four (4) fixed term/adjunct positions.
Not renewing three (3) assistant coach positions.
Significantly reducing non-contractual reassigned time and extra duty days, in most cases by 50%.
In addition, the administration plans to make significant cuts involving staff outside the IFO bargaining unit, including not filling 21 staff vacancies, 21 lay-offs or position eliminations, and 2 reductions in position time. Dr. Lofts says, “Our administration is to the point where they say they are truly sorry. They hate this too, but no one has come up with a way to reduce the budget without hurting people.” More information will be forthcoming after a meeting scheduled the afternoon of April 15.

Bemidji State University (BSU) anticipates $2 million deficits in each of the next two years. BSU President Jon Quistgaard has told faculty that he anticipates $1 million of the shortfall for the 2009 – 2010 year will come from the budget administered by the BSU Vice President for Academic Affairs. Most IFO faculty salaries are paid from that budget. According to BSU Faculty Association President Christopher Brown, the administration has been decidedly short on details as to how the budget cuts will be accomplished. Mr. Brown reports that BSU has postponed making budget decisions for next year in hopes that federal stimulus funds will be available to offset the worst of the budget crisis.
Mr. Brown says that so far the administration has frozen searches for seven (7) probationary positions. In addition, faculty have been told to expect that non-contractual reassigned time will be cut, except for reassigned time dedicated to four (4) key areas (i.e. Higher Learning Commission accrediting efforts, Liberal Education curriculum, the Center for Professional Development and Assessment) In addition, the BSU FA is negotiating with the administration to extend the deadline for faculty to apply for unreduced ESI and ENR benefits to encourage voluntary departures.

Metropolitan State University’s (MSU) budget reserves and expanding enrollment have insulated faculty at the university from the worst of the financial woes plaguing the other MnSCU universities. Continued enrollment growth and a possible small tuition increase will be part of budget planning for 2010 that is still in process with an all university budget meeting scheduled for April 21.

House Omnibus Bonding Bill

The House Omnibus Bonding bill includes $67 Million for MnSCU projects (including Metro State's smart classroom project). The text can be viewed here (4/6): https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/bldbill.php?bill=H0855.3.html&session=ls86

Minnesota Audit Commission: Finalists for audits

More information on one of nine topic finalists: MnSCU System Offices and Expenditures Audit
The full list can be found here: http://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/ped/ped4.htm

MinnPost Article : Jeff Kolnick, MSU-Southwest

http://www.minnpost.com/community_voices/2009/03/26/7635/raise_my_taxes_--_us_tried_the_low-tax_way_and_it_didnt_work

A Summary of WSU Department Chairs Assessment of the Effect of Cuts to Faculty Staffing on Student Education

A Summary of WSU Department Chairs Assessment of the Effect of Cuts to Faculty Staffing on Student Education

Prepared by Kurt Hohenstein, WSU Action Committee Chair

As part of an effort to gain information, the WSU Action Committee solicited from WSU Department Chairs their assessment on student education of cuts to their adjunct, fixed term, sabbatical replacement and overload teaching loads for next academic year. The following is a summary of how cutting those positions will affect WSU’s capacity to teach our students.

Where clear estimates could be made, cuts to those positions would create a minimum class space deficit (meaning seats per students) of 3300. Not all of the Departments could provide clear estimates, and their comments appear below. What this means is that there would be at a minimum, 3300 fewer spaces for students at WSU in those course most in demand by new and existing students.

Since each department is unique, there are a number of other consequences to the cuts. Among them are the following:

• There will be a substantial lack of capacity to offer University Studies courses. Most Departments would first take care of their majors, and the classes offered by the affected positions are commonly USP classes. The cuts would devastate the ability to offer those courses across the campus.
• Incoming freshmen and transfer students would be especially hit hard. Seats for them could not be reserved, and they would face an array of issues finding open sections.
• For majors, departments would attempt to deal with the cuts by offering upper division courses less frequently. This is likely to have the effect of delaying graduation because majors need certain courses to graduate, but those courses would not be offered as often as the majors would need.
• In specialized programs, accreditation problems would occur, putting the continued status of those programs in jeopardy.
• Minors would become nearly non-existent in many programs.
• Majors would see a reduction in certain upper division course necessary to complete the requirements for graduation, delaying their academic progression, and costing more in tuition.
• Rochester courses would be cut substantially in those departments who offer them but who are not housed at that campus.
• In the most severe cases, the cuts would result in the elimination of entire programs, or major parts and functions of departments.
• The solution of increasing class sizes to alleviate the cutting of numbers of courses would work in some areas, but would be very detrimental in areas where there are substantial writing, oral communication, performance, or hands-on student-teacher classroom engagement.
• For WSU, the cuts would change the character of the institution. We would not be able to differentiate our university, which now offers a wide variety of programs that appeal to new and transfer students. Cutting the identified category of faculty will substantially change the unique nature and appeal of WSU, which has been a major driver of our increased enrollment and retention of students.
  
  This summary has been prepared by Kurt Hohenstein, WSU Action Chair, based on a survey of WSU department chairs who have years of experience handling curriculum, scheduling, hiring, and student development issues. They are in the best position to assess how cuts to their own programs will affect our institution’s capacity to serve our students, innovate and incubate the best ideas, and develop active, thinking, and productive graduates that will drive the economic development and growth for Minnesota.

Michael Bowler's "A Simple Question": WDN

Check out Michael Bowler's Letter to the Editor in the Winona Daily News.

Faculty Forum on the Budget II

When: 5:00 PM Thursday, March 19, 2009
Where: Winona – Stark 106 Rochester – ST118

We want to share what we know and hear your thoughts and comments on the budget crisis.

Bruce A. Svingen's Testimony

Chair Pelowski, members of the committee.

My name is Bruce Svingen. I am the Faculty Association president at Winona State University. On behalf of our faculty I thank you for hearing our concerns.
With a $7 billion state deficit spread evenly across all state agencies, WSU would be facing at minimum a $6.2 million cut to base funding, this includes an expected enrollment increase by 200, a 4% tuition increase and the faculty’s proposal for a “no across the board” salary increases for the next two years.
At a $6.2 million deficit, the impacts are catastrophic:

1. The first impact is not filling positions needed to teach courses. If we took the $6.2 million entirely out of faculty positions, this would be a loss of 83 faculty and as much as 332 courses per semester, leaving all of our students a course short of a full load each semester. This would delay their graduation by one year at the same time we see a record high demand for our courses.

2. Secondly, as total course offerings decrease, departments will be driven to increase the number of lower division, less costly, courses in relation to upper division courses. If we’re not able to offer enough upper division classes, juniors and seniors will face further delays to graduation and entering the workforce. This uncertain sustainability of programs will jeopardize the University’s ability to recruit and retain students. Combined with the loss of $3 in tuition and fee revenue for every $1 in cuts under the projected deficit, this programmatic instability takes us toward the “death spiral” of the University.

3. The third impact is that higher tuition will limit accessibility and affordability at exactly the time our economy needs higher education to help rebuild our economy. Students have already faced an 85% tuition increases since 2001 and their average debt load upon graduation has blossomed to $24,000. With about 80% of our students staying in MN, burdening these students with more debt is another yoke on the state economy. According to Wilder and Associates, the positive regional economic impact of WSU is $194 million per year. This regional economic impact is now at great risk.

4. The fourth impact of large and destabilizing cuts will be more control over academic programs by the MnSCU System Office. This will not be guided by the academic needs of our students, but by the initiatives of the System Office and the Governor. We do not need trendy fixes, temporary reorganizations, or mandates for on-line education to create a student market – we already have a student demand for what we do. What we don’t need is a System Office spending $136 million/year that does not directly sustain the mission of the campuses, while spending only 40% of their budget on instructional support.

· We can sustain our mission without $20 million plus in System Office technology.
· We can sustain our mission without $20 million plus in the Chancellor’s office.
· We can sustain our mission without $20 million plus in administrative services.
· And we can sustain our campuses without 400 System Office employees.

We know this because we've done it before.

In closing, we are willing to make sacrifices. We have sacrificed wage increases for two years, we are pulling back operating budgets, and we are sacrificing positions.

But cuts alone may not be enough. We hope you will also consider “revenue enhancement” to help the campuses and other essential state services – one source of revenue to soften the blow to the campuses may be found in the MnSCU System Office. We would also ask that you consider tax reform as part of the solution. Coupled with this, we would suggest using one-time federal stimulus money to help soften the blow. And finally we suggest using the savings that come to the state via the PELL grant increases to reduce the cuts to public higher education. And if not that please uncouple the PELL grants from the state grant program so that are students can benefit directly from in the increased support.

Sincerely,

Bruce A. Svingen
President, WSUFA

IFO get's it right: The Mankato Reporter weighs in!

Mankato Reporter: MSU-Mankato student paper
Editorial: Inter Faculty Organization gets it right
Issue date: 2/19/09

Now is not the time to be asking for pay raises, and fortunately, the Inter Faculty Organization appears to recognize that.The group struck a deal with the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system when negotiating a new contract earlier this month. The proposed two-year contract, which will be voted on by faculty next week, contains no across-the-board salary increases or annual step increases for faculty.No one should expect to be able to avoid at least some tightening of the belt during these tough economic times. In this case, the contract isn't even so much a tightening of the belt as it is a decision not to loosen the belt more.... [for more click here]

Editorial: Minnesota can ease fiscal pain by Cindy Phill

Editorial: Minnesota can ease fiscal pain
Inforum: The Forum for Fargo-Moorhead February 17 2009

It’s still a work in progress, but the budget meat grinder at the Minnesota Legislature likely will visit significant pain in two vital areas: education and aid to cities.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty and key lawmakers have said education will not be cut, but the increases for all of public education will be smaller than anticipated. It also appears funds committed previously to higher education will not be forthcoming, which translates into severe cuts because commitments based on those appropriations had already been made.... [full text click here]

IFO Savings to the University

From Russ Stanton (2/20/2009)

To give a 1% per year raise to IFO faculty costs $6.1 million.

Last year, when the Department of Finance sent out instructions to agencies to prepare their budget requests, the agencies were told to build in a 3% per year compensation inflation.

Thus, the tentative contract settlement will help reduce compensation costs to the universities by about $18 million over the biennium compared to original estimated costs.
Faculty are doing their part to solve the budget shortfall and prevent layoffs.

Governor's response to the MnSCU budget request

The Governor’s response to the MnSCU budget request (1/30/2009): http://www.mmb.state.mn.us/doc/budget/narratives/gov/mnscu.pdf

Chronicle article: Downturn Threatens the Faculty's Role in Running Colleges

Downturn Threatens the Faculty's Role in Running Colleges
BYLINE: ROBIN WILSONSECTION: THE FACULTY; Pg. 1 Vol. 55 No. 22 LENGTH: 2120 words February 6, 2009
Professors are losing their grip. Tough economic times are leading administrators to propose swift changes that short-circuit faculty governance, long a prized principle that gives professors wide-ranging authority over educational matters.

The results, faculty members say, are hastily conceived plans that reorganize academic programs, decrease professors' roles in shaping the curriculum, and jeopardize tenure applications -- all done with little advice from the faculty, in the name of saving money....
(read more via Lexis-Nexis --full text of The Chronicle of Higher Education).

Join us for a faculty forum on budget issues

What: Faculty Budget Forum
When: Thursday, February 5, 2009 at 4:00 PM
Where:
Winona Campus: Purple Rooms 105/106
Rochester Campus (ITV): ST 112

Article in the Minnesota Independent: Raise taxes? Rukavina broaches the taboo

Raise taxes? Rukavina broaches the taboo
By Paul Demko 2/3/09 5:26 PM

Raising taxes to solve the state’s looming $5 billion budget deficit has generally been a verboten subject. Gov. Tim Pawlenty, not surprisingly, has stuck to the no-new-taxes mantra that’s been the guiding philosophy of his two terms in office. His fellow Republicans at the Capitol have been equally adamant that the budget must be fixed without revenue increases.
Even Democrats have been reluctant to broach the topic of tax increases. Since Pawlenty unveiled his budget proposal last week, the party’s leadership has been notably vague in detailing what alternatives they might suggest for fixing the state’s fiscal crisis. Instead the Democrats have promised a two-week “listening tour” to hear how average Minnesotans suggest closing the deficit.

But there’s at least one legislator who’s not shy about suggesting that taxes need to be raised: Rep. Tom Rukavina. At the start of today’s meeting of the Higher Education and Workforce Development Finance and Policy Division, the Iron Range Democrat declared it “nuts” to believe the massive deficit can be fixed without additional revenues.
“The governor’s got to understand he helped create this mess and now he has to help solve it,” Rukavina said. “As much as he wants to starve the beast and cut government, I think this monster’s gotten out of control.”

Click here for the rest of the story/article.

Article in LWN's National Voter: Examining "Redistribution of Wealth"

In the National Voter February 2009 issue (national magazine for the League of Women Voters), Jeff Kolnickjust (MSU-Southwest) "recently published an essay with Doug Anderson, a union brother from the SMSU English Department, that deals with taxes, unions, and the redistribution of wealth. It is for the national magazine of the League of Women Voters and might be useful..." -JK forwarded this note to IFO leadership.

The current issue can be found at (article is in the February 2009 issue):http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Current_Issue

IFO Legislative Update 1/15/2009

Faculty update newsletter for January 2009.
http://www.ifo.org/Update/january09.html