WSU would spread possible 5 percent cut across departments

Additional state budget cuts could hinder Wichita State University in achieving its goals, the university warned in a document submitted to the governor’s office.

It said it would spread a potential cut of 5 percent evenly across departments, according to budget documents The Eagle received in an open records request to the Board of Regents..

The university stands to lose more than $3.5 million next fiscal year if the state cuts higher education spending by 5 percent. A two-year cut would mean a $7 million loss in funding for the university.

“High quality faculty are difficult to attract within a competitive environment. Additional reductions will decrease the university’s ability to competitively recruit and retain faculty members with the expertise necessary to train graduates with the required skills needed by local businesses,” WSU says in the document.

The state is on pace to have a $20 million budget hole by the end of June. Budget director Shawn Sullivan asked state agencies and universities to submit reports outlining what a 5 percent budget cut would entail. Those will be weighed as Gov. Sam Brownback’s office readies a budget to submit to the Legislature in January.

The governor’s office has said it will not release those documents now, citing an exemption in the state’s open records act that allows agencies to not disclose policy drafts. However, the Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s universities, has taken the position that the documents are public and has released them for six regents universities.

Higher-education spending already has been cut 4 percent for the current fiscal year.

A 5 percent cut for WSU would mean a $3 million cut for general operating expenses. It would also mean a $409,000 reduction for aviation funding and a $96,000 cut for its innovation campus.

WSU plans to spread the “reductions proportionately to each university division.” The document offers little specifics but said the university would freeze capital projects, freeze or eliminate positions and freeze or reduce equipment purchases. The documents do not say how many employees could lose jobs if positions are eliminated.

Here are other universities’ plans to deal with the possible 5 percent cut.

▪ Emporia State University, which stands to lose $1.5 million, said the possible reduction “would erode the University’s programs, academic quality, service and other benefits to its students, diminishing attractiveness to prospective and current students.”

▪ The University of Kansas would lose $6.3 million for its Lawrence campus and $5.2 million for the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan. It did not specify which university programs would be affected at its Lawrence campus if that happens.

▪ Kansas State University stands to lose nearly $5 million at its main campus in Manhattan. It would make across-the-board cuts. More than $2.4 million would come out of instruction, while another $600,000 would come out of research. The rest would come out of student services, academic and institutional support, facilities management and public service.

Cuts to the Kansas State Veterinary Medical Center and extension campuses would total another $3 million.

▪ Pittsburg State University would lose nearly $1.7 million next fiscal year. It would cut 26 positions across a variety of departments.

▪ Fort Hays State University did not state a specific dollar amount but warned that a 5 percent cut could result in a hiring freeze and force the university to move to a four-day workweek.

This story was originally published September 26, 2016 at 11:03 AM with the headline "WSU would spread possible 5 percent cut across departments."