Published: November 03, 2009 03:57 pm      

Okla. state regents request $27.5M budget increase

OKLAHOMA CITY — Despite plunging state revenues, the Oklahoma State Regents on Tuesday asked the state Legislature for a $27.5 million increase over last year's budget and another $35.8 million to make up for this year's budget cuts.

The nine-member governing body of the state's 25 public colleges and universities unanimously approved a budget request of nearly $1.1 billion for the 2011 fiscal year that begins July 1. The Oklahoma Legislature will write the budget for the next fiscal year after it convenes in February.

"We need more students and more college degrees for a stronger, more competitive Oklahoma," Regents Chairman William Stuart Price said. "Now is not the moment to slow down. Now is the time to accelerate and push forward."

The regents also want the state to appropriate $68.7 million in federal stimulus money, the same amount of stimulus funding the Legislature approved for the current fiscal year.

Chancellor Glen Johnson, who described the request as "reasonable," said colleges and universities already have tightened their belts because of 5 percent budget cuts in each of the last three months for all state agencies.

University presidents have implemented hiring freezes, reduced professional service contracts, eliminated or cut back travel expenses and moved to four-day work weeks at some campuses, Johnson said. One state college — Redlands Community College in El Reno — already has had to furlough employees, and Johnson said additional campuses may have to do the same if budget cuts continue.

"We're cognizant of the times we're in," Johnson said. "They're already cutting to the bone."

Johnson said it is too early to discuss whether tuition hikes at state institutions will be necessary, but clearly such increases haven't been ruled out.

"We'll have to see what the allocation is, and then we'll make our decision," he said.

But higher education isn't the only arena in state government that is suffering. During the first three months of the fiscal year that began July 1, the state collected about $1.1 billion in tax revenue. That's about $462 million less than it collected during the same three months last year, and state finance officials have told state agencies to expect 5 percent budget cuts for the rest of the fiscal year.

State Rep. Lee Denney, who chairs the House budget committee that allocates education funding, said that while lawmakers always have made education funding a priority, it's too early to tell how realistic the regents' budget request is.

"I think it's a little premature to start requesting a huge budget increase for next year when we're really not even sure how revenues are going to end up this year," she said. "I feel like they're asking for the moon and hoping for the best."