Budget proposes $71M in cuts to Louisiana colleges

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana's public colleges face cuts of at least $71 million in next year's budget proposal — which awaits debate on the House floor this week — and higher education leaders will be pushing a bill to allow the schools to raise new fees on students to cover the gap.

Commissioner of Higher Education Jim Purcell said he received an estimate Monday of what cuts colleges and universities would take if the budget passes in its current form.

Colleges had been proposed for standstill funding next year, but that was before the state's income forecasts fell more than $300 million. The House Appropriations Committee rebalanced the budget proposal to account for the revenue loss, levying cuts most heavily on higher education.

Purcell said the governor's financial analysts say higher education now stands to be slashed by $71 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1. And that could worsen if lawmakers make cuts to deal with a deficit in the current year or refuse to use some of the financing plans proposed for next year.

"It does put us in a very difficult situation. My concern is that for some of the campuses it would be very painful," he said.

In response, higher education leaders are working on a proposal that would allow campuses to boost student fees by up to $25 per credit hour. Purcell said the idea could come up for debate in the House Education Committee on Wednesday.

The proposal could raise as much as $107 million a year for campuses.

"But in the bill, each of the systems will thoughtfully consider what that rate will be per institution," so not all schools would increase their fees by the full $25 per hour, Purcell said.

Any fee increases would come on top of several years of tuition hikes, including another round planned for the upcoming school year.

The House is scheduled Thursday to debate next year's $25 billion budget. Some lawmakers in the chamber want to deepen the cuts, saying the spending plans rely too heavily on one-time funding that doesn't reflect what the state has to spend year after year.

Health care officials also received estimates Monday of the types of cuts they would take in the budget as proposed for House debate.

The Appropriations Committee reductions stripped about $158 million that had been proposed for the Department of Health and Hospitals. That still would leave the agency with a $521 million growth in funding next year, but not enough money to keep up with increasing health costs.

Doctors and private hospitals that care for Medicaid patients would get fewer dollars for those services, through cuts in their provider rates, according to plans described by DHH officials. Nearly 170 developmentally disabled people who would have been eligible to get increased at-home care through the Medicaid program instead won't move off a waiting list.

Meanwhile, the LSU public hospitals would be hit with a $21.5 million cut in funding, above other planned reductions that already threatened to shutter some clinics and services.

Fred Cerise, LSU's vice president for health affairs, said his staff hasn't delved into the details of what the latest cuts proposed would mean, but he added, "It would be significant reductions in services, potentially closures of some facilities."