Indiana State University budget could be cut 7.1 percent

sue.loughlin@tribstar.com

TERRE HAUTE - Indiana State University's state appropriation would decrease about 7.1 percent under Gov. Mitch Daniels' proposed biennial budget.

That includes a 1 percent cut effective for the current fiscal year.

As it considers possible spending cuts, ISU's budget priorities are to maintain student services and protect the jobs of current employees, university President Dan Bradley said Thursday in a message to faculty and staff.

Under the governor's proposal, ISU's state appropriation would be reduced from $76.9 million (the original 2008-09 appropriation) down to $71.5 million in fiscal year 2011.

ISU officials caution that the governor's budget represents a proposal and that the legislative process has just begun.

"Those of you who have been around for a while know that budget cuts are just a part of life. Higher education has struggled financially for a long time," Bradley said in his regular biweekly electronic newsletter.

"We have the processes in place to respond to these proposed cuts and others if they occur. It is very early in the legislative process that will ultimately determine our state appropriation for the next two years. We will not know with any certainty what our total budget will be until late spring," he stated.

Bradley intends to use the governor's proposed budget as a starting point in planning for the coming two years and the university will be conservative, particularly in filling vacant positions.

"We'll look at our budget very carefully to see what we can do," he said Thursday. He did not outline any specific cuts at this time.

The university first will look at centrally managed budgets in such areas as utilities and benefits to see where there can be some cost savings.

Then, colleges and departments would be told what kinds of cuts they would have to make.

"Our employees, at all levels, are what make ISU such a great place. Our top priorities will be to maintain direct services to students and to protect the jobs of our current employees," Bradley stated. "I am confident that careful planning, coupled with good management of resources, will allow us to weather these bad economic times and continue to provide high-quality instruction and services to our students."

Last fall, the Indiana Commission for Higher Education recommended cuts for all of the state's higher education institutions during the 2009-11 biennium, including reductions totaling more than $2.8 million for ISU.

Gov. Daniels has since recommended additional cuts of more than $2.6 million, including a reversion of 1 percent of the university's state appropriation for fiscal 2009.