Regents Adopts 2022-2023 Budget Priorities

BATON ROUGE, La. – The Board of Regents approved its initial 2022 budget request for higher education, prioritizing investments that are essential to supporting the state’s recovery from the pandemic and multiple natural disasters while also increasing overall education and training levels in Louisiana. Regents’ ask includes an additional $219.5M in state general funds targeted towards meeting the state’s attainment goal of 60% of working-age adults holding a postsecondary education credential by the year 2030.

“Regents is grateful for the support of the Administration and the Legislature in providing the first major increase in higher education funding in over a decade and we are eager to maintain the momentum this investment has ignited as we work to accelerate talent development,” said Commissioner of Higher Education Kim Hunter Reed. “Higher education benefits our state and graduates in numerous ways of particular importance at this time, including improving employment opportunities, expanding our tax base and lifetime wages, and simultaneously decreasing the need for public assistance.”

The FY 2022-23 higher education budget request focuses resources in several categories, including institutional support, research, and stability ($104.6M), budget stabilization ($18.7M), affordability for students and families ($92.2M), and other targeted needs ($4M). This year’s request follows last year’s historic reinvestment by the state in colleges and universities, increasing state funding by 10%.

“Regents strongly believes the investments outlined for consideration will significantly advance our mission of expanding education while accelerating the state’s economic renewal,” said Board of Regents Chair Blake David. “Both are critical for Louisiana and we look forward to our continued discussions around funding priorities as we begin the budgetary process.”

In its discussions, Regents reaffirmed its commitment to meeting Louisiana’s future economic needs by seeding transformational change, supporting faculty, and increasing overall prosperity through the development of a skilled workforce. The complete budgetary reinvestment package requested by Regents to accomplish its mission includes:

Institutional Support/Stability ($104.6M):

• Return Faculty Pay to SREB Average – $31.7M
  • • Completes a two-year phase-in, which began in FY 2021-22, to return faculty pay to the SREB average in an effort to retain and recruit top faculty and researchers. The faculty pay increase includes the ranks of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, and instructor. The last year in which Louisiana reached the SREB average for faculty pay was 2008.
• Provide Staff Pay Increases – $44.0M
  • • Secures an institutional staff pay increase of 4%. Over several years, there has not been a uniform statewide pay increase for unclassified institutional staff, though classified employees have received increases.
• Drive Improved Student Outcomes – $15.0M
  • • Supports talent development by leveraging our funding formula to reward improved student success and expanded campus research activity through an increase in cost and outcomes funding while meeting the mandates pursuant to Act 462 of 2014.
• Support Specialized Institutions – $10.0M
  • • Increases funding for research and public service productivity at the LSU and SU Agricultural Centers and SU Law Center and for enhanced instructional and research capacity at the LSU Health Sciences Centers and Pennington Biomedical Research Center.
• Title IX Office Support – $5.0M
  • • Finances Title IX offices across public postsecondary education, allowing systems and institutions to hire additional staff and provide expanded resources for investigations and prevention activities focused on student safety.

Budget Stabilization Package ($18.7M):

• Fund Annual Legacy and Mandated Cost Increases – $18.7M
  • • Since FY 2008-09, legacy and mandated costs to higher education institutions have increased by a total of $261.4M, an average annual increase of $18.7M. For years, higher education was the only state entity that did not have its legacy and mandated cost increases annually reflected in the executive budget. Including these increases in the executive budget will allow institutions to retain state dollars for instruction, research, and student support.

Affordability/Priority Investment Package ($92.2M):

• Master Plan Alignment – $30.0M
  • • Institutional support for implementation and/or expansion of programs for student success and Master Plan alignment. Support includes, for example, STEM initiatives at LSU and A&M College and Nicholls State, enhancing student success services at Grambling State University, LSU-Shreveport, and Southern University-Baton Rouge, and creating/enhancing nursing programs at Southern University at New Orleans, Northwestern State, and Southeastern.
• Completers Fund – $30.0M
  • • Accelerates retraining of displaced workers, supporting completion of in-demand short-term credentials and associate’s or four-year degrees for students in the last semester of their studies.
• Increased Funding of GO Grants – $10.0M
  • • Additional need-based aid funding to build upon the largest base increase in the history of the GO Grants last year. Options include increasing the number of awards to students, increasing the amount awarded to students, or a combination of both.
      • • To fully fund all 59,117 eligible students with the current financial aid packaging policy, an additional $59.8M would be required. Each institution sets its own award range; currently institutions can provide a minimum of $300 and maximum of $3,000 per student.
        • To fund all 59,117 eligible students at the maximum GO Grant award amount of $3,000 per student, an additional $132.9M would be needed in FY 2022-23.
        • Currently only 26,240 students, 45% of those eligible for the program, receive GO Grant awards.
• TOPS Increases – $9.3M
  • • Covers the increase in participation, projected to be approximately 1,700 students.
• M. J. Foster Scholars Increases – $5.5M
  • • Fully funds the initial program cost in FY 2022-23 for the state’s newly created adult financial aid program. Brings the total funds allocated to the $10.5 million needed to launch this initiative.
• Critical Student Support Provided through the Higher Education Initiatives Fund (One-time Money)
  • • Includes textbook affordability ($2.5M), dual enrollment ($1.5M), Master Plan initiatives such as the Student Success Council, Math Pathways and faculty professional development ($1.5M), digital inclusion ($1M), and early childhood centers at higher education institutions ($1M).

Targeted Requests Package ($4M):

• LOSFA High School Outreach and Engagement – $2.1M
  • • Enables LOSFA to develop the capacity to support expanded audiences of students as well as the broad array of adult populations desiring to return to college.
• Increase Adult Basic Education Funding – $1.6M
  • • Restores per-student funding to its level at the time the program was transferred, in 2010, to LCTCS from the Department of Education, supporting both adult basic education and workforce training.
• Focus on the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) – $300,000
  • Provides for operational needs, as LUMCON continues coastal and maritime research and education critical to our state and the Gulf region with the opening of the BlueWorks campus in Houma.

Finally, Regents also requested that $200M of available funds from the FY 2021-22 budget surplus be utilized for deferred maintenance and disaster response investments at the state’s public postsecondary institutions.

“Addressing the maintenance needs at our colleges and universities and allowing for immediate repairs across the state will help mitigate long-term damage caused by years of neglect,” said Commissioner Reed. “In the wake of natural disasters, institutions can serve as community recovery hubs, acting as a one-stop-shop for staging areas, food preparation, and disaster assistance and information. Disaster investment dollars would strengthen these campuses’ ability to operate independently when communities lack power, water, internet connectivity, and other utilities, furthering their role as strategic assets.” Reed emphasized.

With today’s action, Regents will transmit the budget request for all higher education systems to the Division of Administration in accordance with R.S. 39:31.1(F) no later than November 1, 2021.