Legislative Session Archives - Page 4 of 6

Clif’s Notes for May 9, 2017

May 9, 2017 by Clif Smart

I have good news to report from Jefferson City. We have invested significant time and effort this year advocating that the legislature reduce the cut to our core appropriation.

Good news from the legislature

Last Wednesday I made another trip to Jefferson City to testify before the House Higher Education Committee. My testimony focused on Missouri State’s quality, affordability and efficiency. I informed the committee of the decisions we have made this year to balance Missouri State’s budget, and I stated that additional cuts would result in Missouri State University — and the entire Missouri higher education community — taking steps backward in terms of quality and affordability. I have delivered this same message to many of our legislators and other elected leaders over the past several months.

Later in the week, the General Assembly’s budget conference committee announced, and the House and Senate passed, the legislature’s final version of the state budget.

The final budget will include a 6.58 percent core cut for Missouri State as opposed to the 9 percent cut proposed by Governor Greitens. If the Governor approves the budget, and there are no withholds during the fiscal year, Missouri State will receive $2.1 million more in state appropriations than originally anticipated.

Please join me in thanking Sen. Dan Brown (Senate Appropriations Chair), Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick (House Budget Chair) and the other legislators involved in the budget process for working to restore a portion of our core cut.

An unanticipated $2.1 million

As you know, we developed our fiscal year 2018 budget recommendations on the assumption of a 9 percent cut. Accordingly, this additional $2.1 million in anticipated revenue is currently unallocated.

I have already informed the Executive Budget Committee that we will meet in the fall to evaluate the actual revenues received from the state and develop recommendations for a mid-year compensation increase.

West Plains flooding update

I want to take a moment to update you on the status of our West Plains campus.

On April 29, West Plains received over nine inches of rain in a six-hour period. The result was flooding throughout Howell County and surrounding areas. It was a historic weather event that destroyed homes and businesses, caused several deaths and threatened the safety of countless others.

Roads, bridges and other infrastructure throughout the West Plains community have been damaged, making travel difficult for some and impossible for others. Cellular service was disrupted, and the entire community has been without power and other services at times following the storm.

Our West Plains campus sits on high ground, so we suffered only minor property damage. The GOCAT facility suffered some flooding. Moreover, the Grizzly Lofts, which we lease as part of a public-private partnership, were flooded, requiring an emergency evacuation of students residing there. Additionally, our faculty, staff and students in the West Plains area have had to deal with the ramification of their homes and communities being flooded.

I was in contact with Chancellor Bennett during the flooding and its aftermath. We decided to close the campus on May 1 and 2, with only essential personnel reporting. As we evaluated the situation we then canceled classes for the rest of the week, but reopened offices on May 3. This allowed as many faculty, staff and students as possible to avoid the travel difficulties and attend to their personal needs.

The Springfield campus provided dispatch services during the flooding (which proved critical given the cellular outage and communications problems resulting from the flooding) and has offered other support to ensure that the West Plains campus operates as smoothly as possible in the coming weeks and months.

West Plains campus open again

I am pleased to report that the West Plains campus opened for business yesterday. I traveled there yesterday to ensure that things ran according to plan and to recognize several members of our Missouri State community who exhibited extraordinary commitment during the flooding. Those individuals include:

Jared Cates, director of student life
Bruce Cavitt, academic adviser
Anyta Cavitt, teacher education adviser
Stanley Mugeki, director of student housing
Angie Totty, dean of student services

Please join me in congratulating and thanking these individuals for their exemplary work. Please also join me in remaining mindful of the obstacles that our West Plains campus has surmounted, and the obstacles they will continue to encounter, as we close out the semester.

How can I help?

I have been asked by many of our faculty and staff what they can do to help our students in West Plains. The Missouri State Foundation has an Emergency Scholarship Fund. This fund provides assistance to students who face an unforeseen crisis that makes them unable to meet their financial obligations. The Foundation has agreed to use this fund to solicit contributions and provide assistance for our students in West Plains who have been impacted by the flooding.

The Foundation will begin an email and crowdfunding campaign to solicit contributions to the fund this week. In the meantime, if you would like to contribute to the fund, you may either contact the Missouri State Foundation at 417-836-4143 or contribute online.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for April 11, 2017

April 11, 2017 by Clif Smart

With a month remaining in the state’s legislative session, I wanted to give you an update on our work with the Missouri General Assembly.

Focus on the budget

We have spent an enormous amount of time working with our elected leaders on appropriations for the upcoming fiscal year.

You will recall that due to a revenue gap for the state, Governor Greitens’ budget recommendations for fiscal year 2018 included an $8.2 million reduction to our core operating appropriation. Governor Greitens also recommended that appropriations designated for higher education projects, including our collaborative mechanical engineering program, be eliminated from the budget.

Last week the House of Representatives passed its budget. This budget includes approximately $2.1 million more than the Governor’s recommendations in our operating appropriation. It also includes $1 million — half of last year’s total — for the collaborative mechanical engineering program. Our southwest Missouri members in the House worked very hard to reduce the impact that the state’s budget gap will have on Missouri State University. I want to thank Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick, chair of the House Budget Committee, in particular for his strong leadership.

The Senate will immediately begin to work on the budget. We have already met with our local senators and the members of the Senate Appropriations Committee to advocate for additional funding.

We will continue to monitor the budget process, meet with our elected representatives and work to achieve the best possible budget position given the state’s revenue situation.

Legislation on degree offerings

We have also worked this year on legislation that would create a pathway for Missouri State to expand its professional doctorate degree offerings.

You will recall that I was part of a task force that met throughout the past year to resolve several concerns about the state’s academic program approval process. This task force reached a consensus solution to many concerns, and all public universities and community colleges agreed to support the final report from that task force. Removal of the statutes currently limiting Missouri State’s ability to offer professional doctorate programs was one of the solutions recommended in the report.

Two bills were filed this year to implement the task force recommendations — one bill was filed in the House and the other in the Senate.

I am pleased to report that the House passed one of these bills by a vote of 141 to 5. Our southwest Missouri members of the House of Representatives were very supportive. I want to thank Rep. Kevin Austin and Rep. Steve Cookson for leading the charge to get this bill passed in the House.

The Senate has debated the other bill but not yet passed it. We remain actively engaged with our senators, and we are continuing to advocate for the passage of this important legislation.

Other important legislation

We have been engaged on other legislation throughout the session as well. Many of the bills we opposed last year (e.g., limitations on ability to bond, elimination of student health fees, etc.) have not been debated this year.

Last year we addressed multiple bills that would have drastically reduced the Board of Governors’ ability to regulate the possession of firearms on campus. Similar bills were dormant this year until a few weeks ago when one House bill gained modest momentum. This bill would authorize permit holders to possess firearms on university campuses and in several other areas where property owners may currently prohibit firearms. Unlike last year’s bills, this bill does not include any carve outs or exceptions for particular areas and situations on campus where firearms may be prohibited.

The House General Laws Committee held a hearing on the bill yesterday, and we testified in opposition. We have also met with the bill sponsor to advocate for the university on this bill. We will continue to monitor this legislation and work to ensure that our Board of Governors retains the ability to reasonably regulate firearms on campus.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for Feb. 7, 2017

February 7, 2017 by Clif Smart

On Thursday, Governor Greitens released his budget recommendations for fiscal year 2018. As I discussed in a prior note, the state’s revenue in the current fiscal year has not met projections. Accordingly, the governor is recommending a fiscal year 2018 budget that is $572 million less than the fiscal year 2017 budget.

Meeting with leaders to determine strategies

The impact of these reductions for higher education included a $72.7 million reduction in core operating appropriations for public universities. Missouri State University’s share of that cut is $8.2 million, an 8.9 percent reduction from last year. This year’s budget also omits the line item included in last year’s for our collaborative mechanical engineering program with the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

I spent a significant part of the month of January meeting with the governor, the governor’s chief policy adviser, the lieutenant governor, the commissioner for higher education, our elected leaders in the General Assembly, other government officials and other university leaders about the funding situation. I have also spent substantial time meeting with our board, the senior administrative team and leaders of university constituent groups to discuss our strategy for implementing the budget cuts.

Based on these discussions, I want to assure you of a couple of things:

First, our elected leaders have repeatedly told me that they remain committed to higher education and are proud of the overwhelming success we have achieved at Missouri State University. The funding situation is the result of a revenue gap at the state level, not hostility to higher education generally.
Second, Missouri State University has worked through budget cuts before, and we have an experienced team who will guide us through the current situation.

Our board makes a plan

Last week the Board of Governors spent the bulk of its time discussing the budget. The result of that conversation is the following set of guiding principles that the university will use to develop the university’s fiscal year 2018 budget:

Protecting the core mission of the university—academic achievement, scholarship and student success—is paramount. Budgetary decisions should be consistent with the mission and strategic plan of the university, with a primary focus on preserving strong academic programs, increasing the number of graduates at all levels, and enhancing diversity and inclusion.
All units will share in budget reductions and must become more efficient, but decisions about the relative levels of reductions will be strategic and reductions will not be equal in all areas of the university.
Given the importance of increasing revenue, any reduction in student credit hours would negatively impact the budget. Enrollment growth must continue to be a priority. The university must continue to invest in programs, facilities and technology that will grow enrollment and increase revenue while continuing to align with accreditation requirements.
Affordability and access remain important goals of the university; therefore, the university will not rely solely on increased tuition and fees to replace the budget shortfall.
All budget decisions will be made through a transparent process that uses existing budget committees, involves all constituent groups and utilizes a university-wide communication strategy. The university will continue its commitment to valuing and supporting people and will carefully consider the impact of all budget decisions on faculty and staff.

Guidelines for budget considerations

The university will also direct cost centers to consider or avoid the following specific strategies in making budget decisions:

The overall goal of budget decisions should be to help our university emerge as a stronger, distinctive and more focused leader in higher education, poised for the future. We must maintain quality, maximize efficiency, reduce expenses and increase revenue.
No one-time savings should be used for filling an on-going budget shortfall without prior approval from the president or provost. Transferring an ongoing and necessary cost to another unit is not an option.
Rather than imposing across the board cuts, cost centers should evaluate if entire programs may be eliminated without significantly impacting enrollment. Budget decisions should not reduce student access to core courses during fall, spring and summer semesters.
Evaluate restructuring units, positions, programs and support services to achieve greater efficiency.
Budget reductions should not significantly increase risk to the university. Evaluate the effects of cuts on enterprise risk management.
Budget reductions should not interfere with the university’s compliance with state and federal regulations.
Continue to develop and leverage partnerships with other colleges and universities in the state, along with corporate partnerships, for successful program expansion and increased revenue

The Executive Budget Committee will meet this week to begin the process of developing fiscal year 2018 budget recommendations for the Board of Governors. We will keep you informed of and involved in the process as it occurs.

Evaluating athletic expenditures

Last week, as the budget news was emerging, we formed a work group to evaluate strategies to reduce expenses in athletics. The Athletics Budget Work Group will be chaired by Dr. Jim Hutter. I have asked that group to determine how we can reduce athletics expenses by at least $750,000.

Supporting our international students

The university issued a statement last week about our efforts to support our international students from the countries impacted by the Jan. 27 Executive Order. Read the full statement.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for Dec. 13, 2016

December 13, 2016 by Clif Smart

I want to update you on a positive development.

Good news for Glass

Last Wednesday, Governor Jay Nixon came to campus to announce that he is releasing the $1.875 million that has been withheld from the Glass Hall project. We couldn’t be more ecstatic about this decision. The withholding required us to modify the work to be completed in Glass Hall. With these released funds, additional work will be completed to further update and repair the home to the largest public business school in the central Midwest.

This is another example of Governor Nixon’s efforts to prioritize higher education during his term in office. I want to thank Governor Nixon and his staff for all of their contributions to Missouri State University and the State of Missouri.

Governor Nixon’s release of the Glass Hall funds is especially good news because of the state of Missouri’s revenue shortfall and dim budget projections for next year. As we move into legislative session in January, I will keep you informed about the status of state appropriations and the university’s budgeting process.

Congratulate our graduates

On Friday the university will award 1,476 degrees at fall commencement. Please join me in celebrating our graduates’ accomplishments at two commencement ceremonies — one at 10 a.m. and the other at 1:30 p.m. — in JQH Arena.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for Sept. 20, 2016

September 20, 2016 by Clif Smart

Last week the Missouri legislature held its veto session. The General Assembly overrode the Governor’s vetoes on 13 bills.

Partial funding for Glass Hall renovations restricted

Two of the bills will result in an anticipated loss of more than $50 million in tax revenue for the state. The Governor has announced that because of this lost revenue, he will be restricting additional appropriations from the state’s budget.

These restrictions will have a significant impact on K-12 public education and higher education. The restrictions include more than $24 million in ongoing funding for education at all levels and more than $6 million for higher education capital projects.

One of the restrictions will have a direct impact on our campus. The Governor has withheld $1.875 million of the $5 million appropriated for the Glass Hall project. The $33.8 million project is being funded by revenue bonds, gifts to the Missouri State University Foundation, university reserves and capital appropriations. We will deal with this $1.875 million restriction by modifying the work to be completed and minimizing construction deviations. This is unfortunate, but responsible stewardship requires that we respond appropriately.

The Governor has indicated it is unlikely the restricted funds will be released this fiscal year. However, we will continue to work with the current Governor and the Governor-elect in November to advocate that the Glass Hall funds be released. In the event the funds are not released, university reserves and foundation gifts will make up any shortfall after modifications to the project have been made.

Firearm legislation does not change campus policy

You may have seen media reports on one other bill— a firearm bill (frequently referred to as “constitutional carry”). The General Assembly overrode the Governor’s veto on this bill.

We have received several inquiries regarding the firearm bill. Despite what you may have heard, this bill does not prohibit public universities from regulating possession of firearms on campus, and the Board of Governors still has the power to adopt such regulations.

We are currently reviewing all of Missouri’s firearm laws to ensure that our existing firearm policy complies and best protects the university community. Missouri State’s existing firearm policy, which prohibits unauthorized possession of firearms on campus, will remain in place unless our Board of Governors changes it.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

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