Inside Iowa State
April 14, 2000
State budget "troubling," says Jischke
by Diana Pounds
In a recent interview with Inside Iowa State,
President Martin Jischke answered questions about the state
budget for FY2001, which is under consideration in the Iowa
Legislature.
The Legislature is nearing the end of the session. What is
the status of the appropriation for Iowa State?
The status remains uncertain. All we know at this point
is that the House recommendation for Iowa State University is
considerably below the Governor's recommendation. We're
awaiting action by the Senate, but at this point, it is very
disappointing and quite discouraging.
You have expressed concern that the appropriation for Iowa
State will fall short of actual needs. How serious is the
expected shortfall?
It's extremely serious. We estimate at this point, based
on the recommendation of the House of Representatives, that
the shortfall is more than $7.5 million. And that's after we
use revenue from next year's tuition increases to cover part
of the shortfall.
What are the options for dealing with this shortfall?
Our options are very limited because we do not have
alternative revenue sources to cover this shortfall. We will
have to reduce programs and services. In addition, we will
not be able to fulfill some of our most important strategic
plan priorities, such as improving undergraduate education
and enhancing information technology and library resources
and services.
How does this situation affect salaries?
At this point, we do not know. However, the level of
funding is far below our needs; indeed, it will only cover
about 57 percent of our needs.
Will the Legislature fully fund salary increases?
Neither the Governor nor the House has recommended the
full funding that we need to provide a 4 percent average
salary increase to all of our employees. (The 4 percent
increase is based on the State's collective bargaining
agreement for contract-covered employees and the
Legislature's intent to provide comparable salaries for all
other employees.)
Some House members have said Iowa State's budget is being
increased, not cut. Your response?
It needs to be clearly understood that we have a major
budget shortfall. We estimate it will cost about $12 million
for salary and health insurance cost increases, and the
Legislature is only providing $6.8 million. We have to spend
another $2.2 million to pay the unavoidable costs of opening
new buildings and inflationary costs for utility services.
The Legislature is giving us no new money for these costs. In
fact, the Legislature is cutting our base budget by a net
$5.1 million.
And the Legislature is requiring us to spend $2.47 million more for the Plant Sciences Institute. It is not providing any new money for this. This actually represents a forced reallocation from our General Fund budget. So, even after we use increased revenue from the tuition increase, we still have a severe shortfall of $7.5 million next year.
What does $7.5 million mean to Iowa State?
As an example, this amount is close to the individual
budgets of four of our colleges. It is also roughly
equivalent to the cost of 150 full-time employees. If we were
to try to recover these funds through a tuition
increase, it would result in a 10 percent increase for every
student. Of course, we cannot raise tuition for the 2000-2001
year at this point because of the state law requiring the
setting of tuition and fee rates nearly a year before they go
into effect.
Tuition is already set for next year, but do you think
this legislative action will lead to larger tuition hikes in
subsequent years?
We do not have many options. This could very well mean
considerably larger tuition increases in the future.
Wasn't part of the 4.3 percent tuition increase next year
supposed to be used for improving quality at Iowa State?
Yes. We told students we would use half of the increased
revenues to address over-enrolled classes, enhance our
library, expand use of technology on campus and make other
improve-ments in the quality of education. Unfortunately, it
appears that we will have to renege on that commitment to
students and apply all tuition revenue increases toward the
budget shortfall.
What are some of the impacts of the budget shortfall?
At a time when enrollments are increasing, we will have
fewer faculty to teach our students. This means fewer classes
and larger class sizes, and it likely will slow
the progress we have made in increasing retention and
graduation rates. At a time when university-based
research is increasing economic opportunities in Iowa, our
research capacity will be diminished. At a time of inordinate
stress in the agricultural community, our capacity to reach
out and help will be reduced.
Recruiting top people to the university becomes more difficult. We're currently searching for a dean of Agriculture, a vice provost for research and advanced studies, and a department executive officer in agronomy, all very important positions. This budget situation does not help that at all. And to the extent that our educational offerings are diminished, it makes it more difficult to attract the most talented students.
Can the university make up some of the gaps in state
funding with more private fund raising?
No. Our donors believe they are helping the university
improve and enhance its quality, not replacing the
responsibilities of the State of Iowa to support the
university. We need to do more fund raising, but to enhance
the quality of Iowa State, not to substitute for what the
State should do.
How does this budget problem compare with ones you've
dealt with in the past?
This is the most difficult and troubling budget proposal
I've seen in my time at Iowa State. While there were funding
difficulties in the early '90s at Iowa State, I don't believe
they were this severe.
Inside Iowa State, inside@iastate.edu,
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