After 68 percent of Alabama voters rejected a tax package that would have restructured the state’s tax system and substantially increased state revenue, residents now must face the consequences. Lawmakers have balanced the budget by cutting spending in most state agencies by 18 percent. Many agencies now are struggling with how to pay for needed programs. The state’s college presidents and the Alabama Commission on Higher Education were asking for a 4 percent increase in state support.  Under the new budget, they got a 6 percent cut instead.

Derryn Moten, co-president of the Alabama State University Faculty-Staff Alliance, is uncertain about future spending.  "Next year looks even more grim," he says. The Alabama Legislature already has depleted its rainy day fund.

Alabama State University’s operating budget and main programs remain intact, and there have been no layoffs. Other institutions have not been so fortunate. 

Alabama colleges and universities rank at or near the bottom in per-student public support for higher education. With the state’s current financial climate and the reform proposals in the Legislature, the future does not bode well. Among the ideas being discussed:  tuition controls and eliminating similar programs amongst the higher education institution. Meanwhile, the union may be able to use the failure of the tax restructuring initiative as a teachable moment.  Moten says the next step for the union is "to educate the public about how the state budget works." This will prepare the public and the state for when the Legislature meets again in February 2004."  [Lindsay Albert]

[October 23, 2003]