March 15, 2011
To: UT System-wide Faculty and Staff
From: President Joe DiPietro
Re: Governor's Budget Proposal
Last night, I had the privilege of being the guest of Gov. Bill Haslam at his first State of the State address.
Overall, the governor's budget proposal is reasonable and realistic for higher education. We were told a few weeks ago to expect a funding reduction of 1-3 percent for FY12, and the governor's proposed 2 percent reduction - or about $7 million of the University's budget - is in line with expectations.
The governor's proposed 1.6 percent salary increase for all state employees, including UT employees, is a welcome recognition of the need to address compensation after more than three years without pay raises. Another positive: the governor proposed continuing the $50 monthly match to state employees' 401(k) plans.
The governor's budget also would allow students receiving HOPE scholarship funds to use them for summer school. The University strongly endorses this proposal, which would help students finish the classes necessary to graduate and help campuses increase enrollment during the usually-slow summer months.
The budget also reflects last year's Complete College Tennessee Act, which alters the higher education funding formula to incentivize higher graduation and retention rates by allocating funds based on performance in those areas. The governor proposed a measure to gradually implement the altered formula over three budget years while institutions make adjustments to improve graduation and retention.
Our campuses continue to strongly support implementation of the funding formula change toward enhancing higher education performance and increasing the number of college graduates in Tennessee.
Additional proposed items of interest are outlined below. We will keep you informed as the budget process goes forward.
We look forward to working with the governor and the legislature in the budget process going forward.
You can watch a detailed presentation of the governor's budget proposal to the state senate's Finance, Ways and Means Committee in a webcast archived here.
