House budget falls short for UNC

(May 22, 2007) The $20.4 billion budget approved May 11 by the state House falls short of what UNC needs.

“If ultimately approved as is, the budget adopted by the House of Representatives will have severe negative consequences for the University, and it is essential that members of the General Assembly now hear from University supporters,” UNC President Erskine Bowles said in a letter to campus leaders.

Among the shortcomings, Bowles cites:

• Faculty are the University’s most precious asset, and raising faculty salaries is the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees’ highest budget priority. The Board of Governors sought funds to raise average faculty salaries at UNC campuses to the 80th percentile among peer institutions and provide a 4% merit raise. Instead, the House budget would give UNC faculty a 4.25% increase, while giving teachers and community-college faculty an average raise of 5%.
• The House budget eliminates 1,088 vacant positions from the UNC system – 734 of them faculty positions. At Chapel Hill, this would eliminate 68 jobs, even though faculty vacancies can take a year to fill. The House budget also would do away with 86 positions at N.C. A&T, 108 at N.C. Central, 131 at UNC-Greensboro, 151 at Winston-Salem State and 272 at UNC-Charlotte.
• The House budget also cuts $18.6 million from “middle management” in the university system. Together, the elimination of vacant positions and the middle-management cut would cost UNC-Chapel Hill $10.5 million.
• The Board of Governors also sought a $15 million competitive research fund to target future needs. That request went unfunded in the House budget. Research funds are also needed to recruit the best graduate students and to support the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI).

State Senate leader Marc Basnight notes that UNC-Chapel Hill has been ranked as the nation’s best value in higher education for six straight years, but that UNC campuses also play a critical role in the state’s economic growth.

“North Carolina is now competing with the entire world, and science and technology are the main economic engines,” Basnight wrote in a letter to Senate Democrats. “It is crucial for the future of this state that we continue to build our system of higher education by making the necessary investments in research efforts – both in faculty and in facilities – that will push our universities to the next level.”

To look up the phone number and e-mail address for your senator or representative, please click on the following links:

Senate:

http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/members/memberList.pl?sChamber=Senate 

House:

http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/members/memberList.pl?sChamber=House