The Louisiana Legislature did not resolve its $900,000,000 budget shortfall for this coming year (2018-19) in its first special session, much as Joseph Rallo, the Commissioner of Higher Education predicted. Headlines for the past two weeks have read like a Jeremiad: “Louisiana House tax talks hit a snag; members return Wednesday to continue negotiations,” or “Louisiana House delays tax votes amid partisan disagreement” or “Louisiana Legislature takes another run at tax deal”. Now the headlines read: “It’s over: Special Session crashes with no action” and “No deal: Louisiana tax session ends early, without agreement”.
Speech delivered February 17 in Alexandria, Louisiana at a meeting of the Association of Louisiana Faculty Senates.
Crisp, Elizabeth Baton Rouge Advocate. 26 February, 2018 http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/legislature/article_c7421160-1b20-11e8-ba42-7be1f25d0e92.html
Deslatte, Melinda. Associated Press. SFGATE https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/House-lawmakers-eyeing-temporary-fix-to-Louisiana-12708967.php
O’Donoghue, Julia. Nola.com. 3 March 2018 http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/03/louisiana_legislature_tax_vote.html
Guilbeau, Glen. The News Star. 5 March, 2018
http://www.thenewsstar.com/story/news/2018/03/04/its-over-special-session-crashes-no-action/393232002/
Deslatte, Melinda. Associated Press Mar 5, 2018. www.ktbs.com/news/arklatex-politics/la-legislative-session/blame-game-begins-as-louisiana-session-appears-to-crater/article_ecbd6ca4-ee57-5dd3-a994-ebf782ffd42d.html
If, as some propose, the legislature cut spending for the state-funded Taylor Opportunity Program for Students or TOPS, both students and Louisiana universities will lose big money. Students who have a “Louisiana residency,” who attend in-state colleges,” and who enroll as first-time first-year students within one year of graduating automatically qualify for one of four TOPS awards. The awards range from the basic TOPS award ($3,700 plus) that is given to students who earn an ACT of 20 and 2.5 GPA in the college core curriculum to the TOPS Honors award ($4,100 plus) that is given to students who earn an ACT of 27 and have earned a 3.00 GPA in the college core curriculum. TOPS costs Louisiana over 300 million dollars annually and accounts for “11 percent of the state’s higher education budget and 23.3 percent of the higher education budget funded by the general fund.”
Speech delivered February 17 in Alexandria, Louisiana at a meeting of the Association of Louisiana Faculty Senates
Sentell, Will. “TOPS task force looks at why costs keep rising, how program fits into state budget.” Baton Rouge Advocate. 10 October, 2017. http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/article_6428d88c-ad36-11e7-9926-1ffb563b536c.html
If TOPS is cut across the board, the value of every TOPS dollar will be reduced to 19 cents. In other words, 300 million dollars will become roughly 57 million.
Speech delivered February 17 in Alexandria, Louisiana at a meeting of the Association of Louisiana Faculty Senates.
Also on the table and facing a 50% cut are GO Grants, which are need-based grants designed to help students who are academically eligible and financially unable to attend a university in Louisiana.
The Louisiana GO Grant is a state grant program that assists students who can demonstrate financial need to pay for the cost of postsecondary education. The GO Grant is used to pay a portion of the cost of attendance at an eligible Louisiana institution. http://www.osfa.la.gov/MainSitePDFs/GOGrantQAs.pdf
According to the Commissioner of Higher Education, financially disadvantaged students who qualified for both TOPS and a GO Grant will have 69 cents to spend on education next year for every two dollars they spent this year.
Speech delivered February 17 in Alexandria, Louisiana at a meeting of the Association of Louisiana Faculty Senates
Rallo indicated in no uncertain terms that Louisiana is “Leading the Nation in Higher Education Disinvestment” and that “State support for higher education has been reduced by nearly 44% and nearly 20% considering all sources of funding.“ To counter this loss of state revenue, state-run universities have increased tuition and fees by approximately 99%, shifting the burden of the cost from the state to students and their families. The average increase in tuition and fees for four year universities has increased by $3,646 and the average increase in tuition and fees for two year colleges has increased by $1,821. He also said that the Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB) reports that “Funds for Operations Per Full-time Equivalent Student [at four year universities are] Significantly lower than those at other universities in the South. As of 2014, four year schools in Louisiana were nearly $4,000 under the average for SREB states. As of 2014, two years schools in Louisiana were a little mover $1,000 lower than the average for other states.
Numbers were based on the average per full-time student and reflects the Board of Regents Average Tuition and Fees comparison.
SREB states include Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
It may be that Louisiana’s financial troubles will send students and professors to other states.