Cuts

[maverick]

At this point, the best and probably last option to lessen the cuts is SB 335 which is up for consideration in the Senate.

This bill retains the deduction for excess federal itemized personal deduction at 65% for 2009, 2010, and 2011; provides a 100% deduction on and after January 1, 2012. If this bill passes, it would generate $138 million for higher education and would lessen the cuts that have been proposed.

This bill is not a tax increase, but delays increasing the deduction for excess federal itemized personal deduction for three years. No one's state taxes would increase under this bill.

Please contact your state senator at (225) 342-2040 and urge them to support SB 335.

Hasn't Jindal already said he'd veto it if it passed?

[turbodawg]

Hasn't Jindal already said he'd veto it if it passed?

Yes he has.

That said, SB 335 is pretty poor. A well-intended stop-gap, I reckon, but poor. Where's the SB to ammend the State Constitution to prevent this blood letting from higher education from happening in the first place?

Meanwhile, over to the DOTD: http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/pol...?showAll=y&c=y

It seems pretty obvious that Piyush Jindal couldn't give a rat's ass about higher ed. Yesterday afternoon, he delivered the exact same trite bullshit commencement speech at Louisiana Tech University as he did at BPCC. No offense meant to Bossier Parish CC by this, but...

Jindal tells the best and brightest of this State to floss their teeth? And he lets higher education burn. Give me a damn break.

[DallasDog]

Article in the DMN here in Dallas yesterday said the new budget will give all 35 4 year universities in Texas a 3% increase, and Louisiana is slashing. The bright and talented will just keep leaving.

[LT]

Very few places are hiring right now, but in a year or two many of the better junior faculty will be on their way.

[dawg80]

LSUS eliminated 20+ academic positions and cut several departments, including the Small Business Development Center which actually helped to create jobs and increase the tax base...

....but, they did hire a new volleyball coach! Whew! and I was worried those kids from Texas and California would not be able to come get a free education on the backs of Louisiana taxpayers. Then of course, they will return whence they came and be tax-paying citizens back in their own states.

[LATechBanjo]

335 made it through the senate friday. house is about to vote

[detltu]

An article about the former governors coming to the defense of higher ed:
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.s...from_pred.html

[Cal&Ken]

The budget passed the House by an overwhelming 87-17 margin. The 'we did the best we could do' is absolute bullshit.

Louisiana Tech University (along with the other pubilc State schools) is about to get wrecked.

It's just as easy to contact your state Senator as it is to post on this board....

Please take the time to tell your Senator to stop this. This is important, folks.

I have been contacting people - only on the other side. There are more ways to fix this than keeping our money that never should have been taken to start with. The Stelly plan was bad to start with and delaying giving us our money is NOT the answer. The education cuts should not be tied to the delay in giving us our money back! The easiest fix is obvious, but no one wants to do it - they need to cut out the useless schools or at least the programs at schools. Tech needs to stop calling people to have our taxes delayed and come up with something useful. There are many many places spending could be cut in the state.

[LT]

looks now like it will only be a 7% cut

...
As approved, HB881 reduces higher education cuts from $219 million to about $110 million. Jindal said that’s a 6.9-percent reduction in funding from the current year – after a $50 million mid-year cut this year.
...

http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/2...NTPAGECAROUSEL

[LT]

What's the likelihood the panel will recommend what really needs to be done?

I think the first step is to prohibit 4 year colleges from offering remedial classes.

http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/2...ur-for-savings

"A new higher education study group tasked with finding ways to save money at the state's colleges and universities will have an indelible impact on the future of the state, according to the sponsor of the bill that formed the group in the last legislative session. "I think this is going to be an historic opportunity for the state to change the course of higher education in this state for the next 100 years," said House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Terrytown, ... all options are on the table, including eliminating low-completer and redundant programs and closing schools. ...legislators are already anticipating deep cuts next year because the state's revenue shortfall is not expected to improve, ...James Davison, who served 17 years on the University of Louisiana System's Board of Supervisors, has been named to the commission ...Jindal, a former president of the UL system, said in an appearance in Monroe this week the commission should eliminate programs. ...

[glm47]

What's the likelihood the panel will recommend what really needs to be done?

I think the first step is to prohibit 4 year colleges from offering remedial classes.

http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/2...ur-for-savings

"A new higher education study group tasked with finding ways to save money at the state's colleges and universities will have an indelible impact on the future of the state, according to the sponsor of the bill that formed the group in the last legislative session. "I think this is going to be an historic opportunity for the state to change the course of higher education in this state for the next 100 years," said House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Terrytown, ... all options are on the table, including eliminating low-completer and redundant programs and closing schools. ...legislators are already anticipating deep cuts next year because the state's revenue shortfall is not expected to improve, ...James Davison, who served 17 years on the University of Louisiana System's Board of Supervisors, has been named to the commission ...Jindal, a former president of the UL system, said in an appearance in Monroe this week the commission should eliminate programs. ...

How about shutting down Universities who consistently can't maintain an auditable set of books or account for their taxpayer provided assets?

[nadB]

Wonder if the fresnecks will be cutting out any of their courses in trailer park upkeep and maintenance ??

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_12837252

[TechsasDawg]

Wonder if the fresnecks will be cutting out any of their courses in trailer park upkeep and maintenance ??

They'll have to. Can't make all the cuts in reading, writing, and arithmetic!!!


TD
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