WAFB Channel 9, Baton Rouge, LA |Lawmakers scramble for higher ed. solutions

Lawmakers scramble for higher ed. solutions

By Caroline Moses - bio | email

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - Higher education in Louisiana faces more than $200 million in cuts and everyone from the state treasurer to local legislators are scrambling for alternative solutions.

"There's nothing out there to try and help higher education," said Representative Nita Hutter, R-Chalmette. As Louisiana's state constitution is written, virtually every department's funding is protected, except health care and higher education.

So, when the state faces serious revenue deficits, schools like LSU and Southern often become the most vulnerable to cuts. "He don't do something now in a measure like this, this is just going to continue to get worse," Hutter said. She filed a bill to make all the money from the state's "rainy day" fund go toward either healthcare or higher education. Monday, her bill failed in committee because legislators say they have better solutions.

"The trouble is it goes to too many schools," said Representative Mert Smiley, R-Port Vincent. "We need to reduce the number of four-year colleges in Louisiana." He says smaller colleges in rural areas should close first. He says many of them have poor graduation rates and poor performance marks. Their closure, he says, would mean more money for schools like LSU and Southern. House Speaker Jim Tucker filed a resolution this session to study exactly which schools to close. "We're sincere about doing this. We are sincere about finding enough money to adequately take care of higher education in Louisiana," Smiley said. He says it will likely take two to three years before they can take action from the results.

State Treasurer John Kennedy says Louisiana should have enough money to fill the higher education hole right now. "There is $1.1 billion owed the state, accounts receivable all across state government," he said. "That's 65% of all the money owed to us and that's just not acceptable." Kennedy says he plans to ask Governor Jindal and his cabinet to be more aggressive in collecting money owed to the state. "If we can collect just 20% of this $1.1 billion, that's enough there to save higher education from cuts."

Governor Jindal says he would support using some of the "rainy day" fund for higher education, but only if that money gets replaced with money collected from a proposed tax amnesty period.

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