ANNAPOLIS – House lawmakers yesterday voted yesterday to recommend that delegates cut the University System of Maryland’s proposed 2008 budget by about $7 million, in a measure aimed at reducing the state’s projected deficit.
Although the cuts are about half of what non-partisan budget analysts recommended last month, the system’s overall budget would still increase. Tuition would not likely be affected by the cuts because Gov. Martin O’Malley has singled out a tuition freeze as a legislative priority this year.
Still, system officials, who oversee the state’s 11 public colleges and universities, had expected a larger funding boost this year and were planning enhancements to several institutions around the state with the funding. University President Dan Mote had fought hard against the proposed cuts last week, saying they would affect student scholarships, the new bioengineering department and the forthcoming school of public health.
The next step in the funding process is for the state Senate to make decisions on cuts. House and Senate budgets must be identical for legislators to sign them into law, so any differences among legislators would have to be sorted out before the session ends later this month.
“Today’s proposal represents what may be approximately $7 million in cuts to the University System of Maryland’s budget. It is only one step in a long process,” university spokesman Millree Williams said in an e-mail.
If the state Senate follows suit and approves similar cuts, it would be the first time since former Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R) moved to slash the state budget in the wake of massive deficits during the first half of his term. Although cuts this year are far less dramatic than Ehrlich’s, which led to sharp tuition increases until 2005, the legislators’ vote yesterday highlights the steep shortfalls the state once again faces.
Mote’s chief of staff Ann Wylie said that of the original $27 million proposed by O’Malley earmarked for higher education, officials in College Park anticipated about $6 million would have bolstered university coffers. Without that money, the system’s governing body, the Board of Regents, would have to completely reapportion how the funds would be spent.
“Undoubtedly, [the cuts] will impact us [should the Senate maintain them], but we don’t know how,” said Wylie.
As expected, the budget analysts did not recommended cuts to this university’s general fund appropriation, which O’Malley set at $392 million. However, Wylie said the additional funding in the bill, which is just a small portion of the university’s whole budget, should not be viewed as inconsequential should the university lose any of it.
Of the $7 million in proposed cuts, $4.7 million is unrestricted dollars in the general funds. An additional $2.4 million is to be set aside for increasing enrollment at five state universities yesterday, including this one. Before the cuts, the university intended to use its portion to accommodate a 250-student expected enrollment increase, mostly at the Shady Grove campus.
The governor’s budget originally requested $7.3 million to expand enrollment, but budget analysts said in their report that the system overestimated the cost of adding the new students, so they recommended cutting that budget by $4.1 million. The committee, however, rejected the analysts’ recommendation and cut more than half of that amount instead.
Ross Stern, the university’s lobbyist, said that to minimize the impact of the cut to the system, Maryland’s universities will have to try to persuade the state Senate to hold off cuts. Wylie said several Senate members are considered “friends” of the university and could ensure that the Senate doesn’t go along with the House.
System Chancellor Brit Kirwan said the cuts are part of a larger effort by the state to cut its total budget, which is expected to fall short by $1.5 billion next year if state tax income doesn’t increase. But he was also extremely disappointed that the House committee adopted the budget cuts.
“The budget was put together very carefully [by the governor],” said Kirwan, pointing toward the governor’s campaign promises to increase funding for higher education. “This action goes against what was a very clear promise.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact reporter Nathan Cohen at cohendbk@gmail.com.
