Presidential Updates

Clif’s Notes for Feb. 8, 2022

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Governor Mike Parson has released his budget recommendations for the fiscal year that will begin July 1.

Those recommendations include:

  • A 5.4% increase to our core budget.
  • Over $33 million in capital projects, including funds for:
    • Temple Hall addition and renovation.
    • Braider facility at JVIC.
    • Hospital simulation lab in West Plains.

Advocating for university priorities

Through his funding decisions, Gov. Parson has once again shown his commitment to Missouri State University and higher education. I hope you will join me in thanking Gov. Parson for his support.

We have already begun meeting with legislative leaders as the budget now moves to the Missouri House for their consideration.

Our advocacy work will continue this week. We will host Gov. Parson on campus this Thursday and legislators on Friday to advocate for the university’s priorities.

Challenging budget year

Yesterday, the university’s Executive Budget Committee held its first meeting. Compensation will be our priority as the committee begins to develop budget recommendations for the coming fiscal year.

This will be a challenging budget year. Inflation and market pressures to increase compensation are strong. Meanwhile, we will begin the year with a shortfall of more than $3 million due to enrollment losses.

We will also have millions of dollars in MOSERS contributions, property insurance, technology contracts and other expense increases.

I will update the university community on our progress in Jefferson City and in the university’s internal budgeting process throughout the semester.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for May 11, 2021

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At this week’s Board of Governors meeting, I will present the Executive Budget Committee’s FY2022 budget recommendations to the board.

These recommendations include $7.5 million in benefit and compensation increases.

Among these increases is a 3% across-the-board compensation increase.

If approved by the board, this increase will go into effect:

  • On July 1 for all full-time, 12-month employees.
  • On Aug. 1 for all full-time, 9-month employees.

Only employees who are full-time on or before May 31, 2021 will receive the increase.

Cost-of-living increases

Compensation is important. With this in mind, the board and I have worked to provide cost-of-living salary increases throughout my presidency.

Unfortunately, the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic made it impossible to provide a cost-of-living pay increase last July.

The 3% pay increase recommended by the Executive Budget Committee, combined with the $600 across-the-board increase that went into effect earlier this year, recognizes the increased living costs our employees have faced since we were last able to budget a cost-of-living pay increase in July 2019.

Funding priorities for the committee

The Executive Budget Committee’s recommendations also include:

  • Enhanced dental plan benefits for employees (a Faculty Senate and Staff Senate priority for this year).
  • Salary range adjustments.
  • A minimum wage increase.
  • Salary increases under the professor salary incentive program.
  • Faculty promotions.

At the request of many members of the Executive Budget Committee, the recommendations will also restore a substantial portion of travel budgets throughout the university and unfreeze many of the currently frozen faculty and staff positions.

The Executive Budget Committee also recommended increases for several university programs, services and initiatives, including:

  • $65,000 for LinkedIn Learning.
  • More than $300,000 in technology upgrades.
  • $120,000 in additional student recruitment travel costs.
  • $300,000 in diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Board will vote in June

I will present these recommendations for discussion at the Board of Governors Finance and Facilities Committee meeting May 12.

The Board will vote on the FY2022 budget at its June meeting.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for Jan. 19, 2021

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I have positive budget news to share.

In July, Gov. Mike Parson withheld $11.9 million of our state funding.

In October, Gov. Parson released $1.7 million. The board used this revenue to fund a $600 across-the-board pay increase for full-time faculty and staff hired on or before Nov. 30. The pay increase will begin this month for 12-month employees and in February for 9- and 10-month employees.

Earlier this month, Gov. Parson released the remaining $10.2 million of withheld state funds. When he released the funds, he directed that we spend $8.4 million on maintenance and repair projects.

I want to thank Gov. Parson for once again prioritizing higher education and Missouri State University when making decisions about which funds to release as the FY2021 state revenue situation came into focus.

Planning maintenance projects

The Executive Committee of the Board of Governors will meet later this week to discuss what projects to prioritize with the funds recently released by Gov. Parson.

I will recommend that the board invest $8.4 million in maintenance and repair facility projects as directed by Governor Parson and hold the remaining funds in reserves. These remaining funds — approximately $1.7 million — will then be available to allocate for FY2022, which will begin on July 1.

State FY2022 budget recommendations coming soon

These developments place us in a strong financial position as we begin to develop the university’s FY2022 budget. That budget process will begin soon.

We anticipate receiving Gov. Parson’s budget recommendations in late January. Our Executive Budget Committee will then meet in mid-February to begin assembling budget recommendations for the Board of Governors.

COVID-19 vaccination update

I also want to update you on our work regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.

The State of Missouri authorized vaccination for people in Phase 1A a few weeks ago. This group includes healthcare and long-term care facilities.

Last week and earlier this week, the state authorized vaccination for everyone in Tiers 1 and 2 of Phase 1B. This includes people 65 and older, people with certain co-morbidities, first responders, emergency services and public health infrastructure.

Unfortunately, vaccination has not yet been authorized for higher education. In the meantime, I would encourage all members of our campus community who are in Phase 1A and Tiers 1 and 2 of Phase B to get vaccinated.

The state’s decision on who can be vaccinated is only one piece of the puzzle. The other piece is the state’s decision on how to physically distribute the vaccine. Vaccine supplies are very limited.

We learned last week that we will receive a small number of COVID-19 vaccines early this week. These vaccines will be available through Magers Health and Wellness Center for employees who are eligible to be vaccinated (currently meaning they meet the requirements of Phase 1A and Tiers 1 and 2 of Phase B).

Eligible employees will sign up for this vaccination through My Missouri State online, similar to how employees sign up to receive the flu vaccination.

The university continues to work to obtain additional vaccine. As we receive additional vaccine and as additional groups of employees become eligible to be vaccinated, we will let you know through Inside Missouri State and the vaccination webpage on the COVID-19 Information Center.

View the town hall recording

Thanks to all who attended the town hall meeting last Friday. For those unable to attend, a recording of the presentation is available online.

If you have questions about the subjects discussed at the town hall meeting or any other topic, feel free to email them to me at president@missouristate.edu.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for Dec. 1, 2020

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Earlier this month the Board of Governors Executive Committee met.

The committee awarded the contract to construct the Springfield Public Schools Agricultural Magnet School at Darr Agricultural Center to Larry Snyder & Company. This is a $6.7 million project funded entirely by private donations.

The committee also approved $800,000 in purchases to upgrade the efactory and JVIC to meet public health emergency guidelines. These purchases are funded entirely with CARES Act funds allocated by Greene County and the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

I also updated the board on the status of COVID-19 on our campus and our plans to finish this semester and start the spring semester without making changes to our academic calendar.

Cost-saving measures

I updated the board on the FY2021 budget.

The budget currently includes several cost-saving measures, including:

  • A 75% reduction in funding for facility repairs and classroom upgrades.
  • A 25% reduction in the President’s enhancement fund.
  • A 75% reduction in funding for academic equipment.
  • A 50% reduction in travel budgets.

These cuts are in addition to savings generated by the hiring freeze, eliminating the incentive payments for teaching online classes and delaying the completion of the new residence hall. Even with these reductions in place, we still planned to use $4 million of reserves to balance the FY2021 budget.

Thanks to all of your hard work, fall enrollment exceeded projections. Accordingly, it does not appear that we will need to use $4 million in reserves to balance the budget.

Additionally, Gov. Mike Parson released more than $1.5 million in state appropriations for the Springfield campus and more than $100,000 for the West Plains campus. Our leadership team worked with the Executive Budget Committee and the Board of Governors to develop a plan to revise the FY2021 budget and allocate these funds.

Pay increase

This plan includes a $600 per year across-the-board pay increase for full-time faculty and staff hired on or before Nov. 30, 2020. The increase will begin in January for 12-month employees and in February for 9- and 10-month employees.

The increase will be spread throughout the year the same way a percentage increase would be spread. For example, an employee in a 12-month exempt position paid once each month will receive an extra $50 (before taxes and withholdings) per month beginning with their paycheck at the end of January 2021.

The university typically implements across-the-board pay increases as a percentage of each employee’s salary. If we were to do that in this situation, we would have provided a 1% raise.

We decided to structure this increase differently because the financial impact of the pandemic and of forgoing raises in July disproportionately affected our lowest paid employees. Our lowest paid employees also benefit more from a $600 raise than a 1% raise.

Moreover, almost all of our employees who were placed on 2/3 pay during the spring and summer will benefit more from a $600 raise. We believe it is important to recognize their loyalty in returning to work after their temporary pay reductions.

The plan also funds adjustments to our salary ranges to match the calendar year 2019 employment cost index.

The remaining $700,000 will be allocated to temporarily restore a portion of the reduced funding for facility repairs and classroom upgrades. Because the $600 raise is being implemented in the middle of this fiscal year, only half of the annual cost of the raise must be allocated in the FY2021 budget.

Accordingly, we have tentatively tagged the $700,000 used to partially restore funding for facility repairs and classroom upgrades as available to fund most of the remaining cost of the $600 raise in the FY2022 budget.

We will present this plan to the board for approval at their December meeting.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!

Clif’s Notes for Oct. 20, 2020

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The Board of Governors met last week.

At the Finance and Facilities Committee, the board reviewed financial statements from last fiscal year. The university had a $6.4 million decrease in its operating fund reserve on the Springfield campus and a $229,000 decrease in its operating fund reserve on the West Plains campus.

These decreases can primarily be attributed to withholds of our state operating appropriation. However, we were successful at decreasing our expenses to offset a portion of those revenue losses.

Financial review

I also updated the Finance and Facilities Committee on the current fiscal year.

As you know, our enrollment exceeded projections. For the Springfield campus, this resulted in $2.9 million in additional tuition and fees in the summer and fall.

Scholarship expenses were also $1.9 million less than budgeted, and the university saved $1.2 million in payroll and benefits through the hiring freeze.

Depending on the impact of COVID-19 on the spring semester, this additional revenue and expense savings may minimize the Springfield campus’s need to spend reserves to balance the FY21 budget as was initially anticipated.

Similarly, on the West Plains campus, additional tuition and fee revenue as well as scholarship and payroll savings will reduce the amount of reserves needed to balance the FY21 budget.

Parson releases appropriations

The board discussed Gov. Mike Parson’s recent decision to release $1.7 million of the university’s operating appropriation. I will reconvene the Executive Budget Committee in the coming weeks to discuss how to invest those funds in the university’s operations.

Parson also released $3.2 million for the Bright Flight program. This is half of the withheld funds for that scholarship program.

I personally met with Parson to advocate that the Bright Flight funds be released along with a portion of our operating appropriation. I am pleased those efforts paid off.

I hope you will join me in thanking Parson for supporting higher education, Missouri State University and our students during these difficult times.

Gourleys awarded Bronze Bear

The board voted to award the Bronze Bear to Robert and Marlese Gourley. Mr. Gourley is an alum of Missouri State University who worked his way through college and enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduation. Together the Gourleys started and owned a series of successful businesses in the Kansas City area.

For many years, the Gourley family has financially supported programs on the university’s West Plains and Mountain Grove campuses as well as scholarships and athletic programs on the Springfield campus. In 2015, the Gourley family made a significant gift to the MSU Foundation and the university named the 37,000 square foot addition to Glass Hall the Robert Gourley Student Success Center.

McClure selected for Government Excellence Award

The board also voted to award the Government Excellence Award to Mayor Charles Kenneth (“Ken”) McClure. McClure has tirelessly advocated for Missouri State University and the Springfield community throughout his career.

As mayor, he has provided an unprecedented level of leadership to protect our community during the coronavirus pandemic by establishing a mask mandate, facility occupancy and gathering restrictions, and other policies designed to mitigate spread of the virus. He also championed legislation to change the name of our university to Missouri State University during his time as chief of staff to Gov. Matt Blunt.

Recognizing dedication to public affairs

The board also approved a resolution acknowledging this year’s Excellence in Public Affairs Award recipients. This year’s faculty recipients include:

  • Dr. Kevin Evans
  • Dr. Lisa Hall
  • Dr. Elizabeth Sobel

This year’s staff recipients include:

  • Samantha Francka
  • Diana Garland
  • A’dja Jones

The award recognizes individuals with an established record of distinctive work and accomplishments in support of the university’s public affairs mission. Each awardee receives a $1,500 grant to be used for research, travel or projects related to their public affairs activities.

Other board updates

The board also received updates on key performance indicators and the long-range plan and strategic enrollment management plan processes.

Finally, the board elected officers for next calendar year. Beginning in January, the board will be chaired by Gov. Amy Counts, and Gov. Carol Silvey will serve as vice chair. I am excited to work with them as we continue to move the university forward.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!