For Release August 10
Regents Release FY 98' Budget Request: Lowest in More than 10 Years
SPEARFISH--The South Dakota Board of Regents, meeting today in Spearfish, adopted a budget recommendation for FY98 that represents a $2.9 million (2.8%) increase over last year's request--the smallest requested increase in more than ten years. The recommendation, according to Regent Cathy Hall, Chair of the Committee on Budget and Finance, "Identifies critical needs in order to maintain the integrity and accessibility of South Dakota's public university system." The critical needs, according to Regent Hall are focused on maintaining the system's current infrastructure in the areas of human resources, technology, facilities, and academic instruction. The FY98 budget recommendation calls for a $1,434,687 increase for the universities and a $2,986,083 increase for the system as a whole. The recommendation outlines four priorities to address critical needs and will be presented to the Governor in September.
One priority is the instructional formula, a performance based funding tool which is used to match resource needs of the universities with the courses that students actually take. The FY98 budget request calls for $757,491 to fully fund the formula. Fully funding the instructional formula helps to keep class sizes manageable, make available advanced and specialized courses, reduce the number of part-time instructors, and meet accreditation standards. Hall says that, "Funding for the instructional formula will ensure adequate resources to provide appropriate levels of quality instruction."
The Regents' budget plan also identifies human resources and technology infrastructure as critical for the university system. Karl Wegner, President of the Board, noted that, "University personnel are the most important resource for the delivery of quality education and service to South Dakota." South Dakota continues to rank at or near the bottom of any salary surveys of faculty and administrators in higher education. The Board's recommendation calls for $966,931 for a salary adjustment for faculty and CSA exempt employees to provide these professionals with the same recognition of salary market conditions that is provided to state CSA employees.
The FY98 budget plan earmarks $1,007,834 for technology improvements on the campuses. The technology infrastructure budget plan maps out a phasing in of $3 million over the next three years so that the public universities can address their top priorities in technology needs. Some of these needs are improving and increasing distance education opportunities, laboratory equipment, staff and faculty training, hardware, and network infrastructure to support technology in the classroom and more efficient delivery of services. The universities have already committed over $7 million of re-directed funds over the next four years for addressing technology infrastructure needs. These funds were identified by the universities in the Reinvestment Through Efficiencies process that the system has been working on during the past year. The Board is asking the Legislature to assist with a small portion of the funds needed to ensure maintenance of the technology infrastructure into the future.
Also a budget priority of the Regents' is facility infrastructure. The plan identifies $253,604 of maintenance and repair funds for the Agricultural Experiment Station facilities, the South Dakota School for the Deaf, and the South Dakota School for the Visually Handicapped. These funds will be used to address critical physical plant needs at these sites.
Regent Wegner later said that, "The Regents understand the current situation in South Dakota and this budget request is a responsible and prudent plan to ensure the continuation of quality within the system." Regent Hall agreed, noting that, "This request is lower than in past years because the universities have successfully labored to identify savings through the Reinvestment Through Efficiencies process. We have been preparing for the future in a proactive and thoughtful way that addresses current needs and anticipates future costs."