$22.93b budget awaits action by governor

by Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff

s Acting Gov. Jane Swift ponders how to trim state spending by as much as $400 million, the House voted Tuesday to override her veto of a $1.14 billion tax package approved last week in tandem with a $22.93 billion budget for fiscal 2003. The Senate also is expected to override Swift's veto.

     On July 19, the House and Senate approved the compromise funding package put forward by the six-member budget conference committee. The bill was passed on to Swift, who has 10 working days to veto spending items in the measure.

     Under the legislative plan, the University system's appropriation is $449 million, a cut of $11.5 million or 2.5 percent from last year's final funding level of $460.5 million.
The package also includes $24.1 million in one-time funding to pay for the fiscal 2002 costs of collective bargaining agreements. Funding for the subsequent years of the contracts is not included in the system's appropriation.

     Legislators also approved level-funding Commonwealth College at $1.715 million and allocated $2 million in matching funds for endowed professorships.

     The Education Reference Materials (ERM) reserve, which supports library acquisitions for the entire public higher education system, is funded at $2.4 million. Last year, ERM received $5 million, and two years ago, the item received $14 million.
Early this week, Swift met with Republican lawmakers to solicit advice on cutting the budget.

     At the same time, 37 senators co-signed a letter from Sen. Stan Rosenberg (D-Amherst) asking Swift to spare public higher education from further cuts (see text of letter, page 3). Last January, when Swift filed her budget proposal, she recommended an allocation of $432.4 million for the University system.

     In the letter to Swift, the senators urge her "to maintain a foundation level of funding for the public higher education system that has been up over the past decade."