Ohio State addresses new round of state budget cuts

COLUMBUS -- A new round of state budget cuts exempts Ohio State’s instructional subsidy, but separately funded budget items are again on the chopping block. For some particularly hard-hit units -- such as Cooperative Extension and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center -- difficult choices lie ahead, William J. Shkurti, senior vice president for business and finance, told the university’s board of trustees today (4/2).

Shkurti updated trustees on the impact of Gov. Bob Taft’s announcement last month that the state budget for fiscal years 2004 and 2005 would be cut in order to address a budget deficit caused by a shortfall in anticipated revenues.

“We’re relieved that the governor exempted the state share of instruction from these cuts,” Shkurti said. “This action will be of tremendous benefit to Ohio State students and the future economic growth for the state. Still, many areas of the university face substantial cuts.”

Ohio State receives $321 million in instructional subsidy, which makes up the lion’s share of the state’s support to higher education and helps to offset high student tuition and fees. Other areas of the university are funded by separate line items in the state’s two-year budget document.

A reduction of 4 percent for fiscal year 2004 mean the loss of $5.1 million to state-funded university line items. A 6 percent cut for the following fiscal year means the loss of $6.9 million. Over the two-year period, the cuts amount to the equivalent of 100 to 140 full-time positions across the university, Shkurti said. “Reduction plans are being prepared by the affected units, and will be completed as part of the annual budget process,” he told trustees.

Agriculture is the area that is most affected, Shkurti said, accounting for $3 million of the FY04 cuts and $3.7 million of the FY05 cuts. The budget for the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center at the university’s Wooster campus will be cut $1.4 million and $2.1 million. Cooperative Extension programs in each of Ohio’s 88 counties face cuts of more than $1.5 million each year.

The Medical Center faces cuts of nearly $570,000 and $850,000, mostly for clinical teaching. State cuts also will impact other medical areas, including family practice, geriatric medicine and primary care. Elsewhere at the university, cuts will be made to state support for such items as math and science teaching improvements, college readiness initiatives, computer science graduate education, and student support services. Other programs facing cuts are the Ohio Learning Center, Ohio Supercomputer Center, OARNet, Sea Grants, and the John Glenn Institute.

Funding for the state’s higher education challenge grants, which Ohio State receives to support programs in research, job training and student access and success, will be cut by nearly $1 million and $1.4 million.

Shkurti told trustees that the university will continue its strategy of diversifying its revenue and finding new ways to reduce its costs to help lessen reliance on state support.

Still looming on the horizon, Shkurti said, is a proposal to eliminate a temporary one-penny sales tax, which the Ohio General Assembly implemented last year in order to balance the state budget and continue to fund primary and secondary education and the state’s public colleges and universities.

“As difficult as these new budget cuts are to us, the proposed repeal of the temporary sales tax is an even greater concern,” Shkurti said. “Cuts to the core of our state support, including the state share of instruction, and further cuts to our line items lie ahead if repeal is successful. This would have a severe impact on all our instructional units and do permanent damage to future economic growth throughout the state.”