DALLAS — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Wednesday he wants to use $98.4 million of the state’s $865.7 million surplus from fiscal 2008 for 21 college construction projects.
Jindal said the projects would be able to get under way soon to stimulate the state’s economy and help reduce a projected maintenance backlog of more than $1 billion at Louisiana public facilities and institutions.
“Not only will these funds support vital infrastructure projects, but because we’re using the surplus, we can get the construction started right away and begin to reduce the billion-dollar backlog in capital outlay,” the governor said.
“We know the budget picture is tight, but we’re finding ways to fund our priorities in higher education,” he said. “We will continue to move Louisiana forward while reducing the size of government so we are living within our means. Even at a time when we’re tightening our belt, I think it’s smart to make investments in higher education.”
The projects to be funded from the surplus include a $12.2 million classroom building at Louisiana State University at Eunice, a new $11 million biomedical research facility at LSU-Baton Rouge, and a $3 million indoor practice facility for the LSU marching band.
The governor has allocated $300 million of the fiscal 2008 surplus to coastal restoration efforts and $67.4 million must be go to the state’s budget stabilization fund. Jindal said he would meet with legislative leaders to determine transportation priorities for the remaining $400 million of surplus funds.
Louisiana’s constitution limits the use of the surplus to capital outlay projects, highway projects, coastal restoration, and reductions in debt service on state tax-supported debt.
Jindal said his executive budget for fiscal 2010, which will be presented to the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget today, will include $2.4 million for debt service on $65 million of bonds for the Louisiana Community and Technical College System. Proceeds will finance critical infrastructure projects at six locations.
The executive budget for fiscal 2010 is expected to cut state funding for higher education by 15%, or about $219 million from the $1.4 billion that colleges and universities received in the fiscal 2009 budget. Officials expect the state to generate $1.3 billion less in revenues next fiscal year due to lower-than-anticipated energy prices and reduced economic activity.
LSU chancellor Michael V. Martin said the proposed reduction in fiscal 2010 of $34.8 million in state aid — along with $10.3 million in cuts from the fiscal 2009 budget — will endanger LSU’s six-year-old effort to improve the academic standing of its student body and faculty, known as the Flagship Agenda.
“It will be like the Flagship Agenda never happened,” he said in statement. “The cut will likely cause us to fall back to where we were eight or 10 years ago.”
Martin said the cuts would return the school to its funding level before the hurricanes of 2005.
Instead, he said, the university should be rewarded for its improved academics rather than being punished with millions of dollars of cuts in state aid.
“LSU worked tirelessly to make the most of the funding it received during the past few years, and that funding was still below the national average,” the chancellor said. “And now, when we are finally getting recognized nationally for academics, we are going to be sent right back to where we were before the Flagship Agenda was created.
“It’s very disheartening.”
