Georgia General Assembly passes budget with smaller cuts to USG, Cyber Center

A report issued Wednesday, last day for the 2023 session of the Georgia General Assembly, on the state budget keeps some, but not all, cuts to the University System of Georgia teaching budget made in the Senate version. This version of the budget passed the Senate 54-1 and the House 170-3 before heading to Gov. Brian Kemp for final approval.

Last week the state Senate Appropriations Committee issued a version of the of the budget which had several changes resulting in a $105 million cut from the USG budget; a number the USG system put at roughly $113 million after including reductions to other budget lines. The total cuts in the revised version of the budget, approved by a joint House and Senate committee, reduces the cuts to $66 million.

More: Georgia Senate approves budget with $105 million cut to university system

The initial cuts included eliminating more than $17 million for the employer share of health benefits that was introduced by Gov. Brian Kemp and approved by the state House. It also included an $87 million cut to the teaching budget, a block of funding for student instruction, to be replaced with unspent funds carried forward from the past year.

The new version of the budget restored the full amount for the health benefits, and reduces the amount of money to be carried forward from $87 million to $66 million.

Senate Appropriation Committee chair Sen. Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, said that the carry forward funding is attached to each institution individually, with each having its own amount of carry forward funding available. The total amount of carry forward funding available was about $504 million. Tillery said that USG is funded through a block grant and can distribute the funds they receive however they want.

“If they want to apply it across the board, I’m sure schools that are smaller with less carry forward funds are going to be impacted more. But if they want to apply it differently, they are not only allowed to they are constitutionally empowered to," he said.

Tillery also highlighted that the total state funds allocated for teaching at USG institutions is $2.8 billion. At the end of his presentation, other senators gave him a standing ovation.

More: Enrollment drops could mean cuts at some Georgia colleges; UGA and AU see growth

Late Wednesday, Kemp came spoke to lawmakers and suggested that work on the budget was not over.

“First of all, while both chambers have passed the fiscal year budget or soon will, I think it’s important for me to say tonight that the recent news from the Federal Reserve and others suggests there may be storm clouds on the horizon," he told the Senate. "At this point there are significant holes in this year’s final budget that my office will need to work closely with you all, the House and the Office of Planning and Budget to address in the coming months.”

"We are funding higher education ... at an extremely strong level.”

The Senate's proposed cut of $105 million matched the amount approved by the state Legislature earlier in a separate bill for a new medical record system for AU Health and the Medical College of Georgia. That comes as AU Health is exploring a partnership with the Atlanta-based hospital system Wellstar, which would benefit from the new record system. Wellstar opposed proposed changes in the Senate to Georgia's Certificate of Need legislation that would have allowed the construction of new hospitals in some counties without a state permit.

“This cut to teaching combined with the $2,000 raise for USG employees sends a confusing message to faculty and staff," Georgia American Association of University Professors President Matthew Boedy, an associate professor of rhetoric and composition at the University of North Georgia, wrote in an email. "It's illogical to punish students to send a message to a hospital system. What possible justification can there be for this cut? It will hit many schools who already faced millions in cuts and damage their ability to fulfill their mission ‒ to educate the state.”

State Sen. Max Burns, R-Sylvania, said that the cuts were a recognition of declining enrollment at USG facilities. He also highlighted that the the HOPE Scholarship was fully funded.

"That wasn’t targeted at AU. That wasn’t targeted at AU Health (or) the Wellstar agreement. I think it was just a realization that we have to begin to work with the Regents and the university system to begin to control overall expenditures," Burns said. "Could we have done a better job? Perhaps. But on the other hand, we are funding higher education in Georgia at an extremely strong level.”

State Sen. Harold Jones II, D-Augusta, was less happy about the cuts, and said he hoped it was not related to AU Health and Wellstar.

"“The cuts weren’t as big as they were, of course, so we have to move on from there," he said.

Burns was particularly positive about the possibility of a merger between AU Health and Wellstar.

“At the end of the day, AU Health, Wellstar AU, whatever it becomes, we have to have that facility in order to complete the mission of preparing physicians for Georgia," Burns said.

The budget also reduces cuts in state funding to the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center in Augusta to $3.2 million. The original Senate plan made a $5.1 million trim to the Cyber Center, out of $5.5 million in direct state funds, to be made up from rental income.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: USG funding cuts are smaller in Georgia House-Senate conference budget