Another Republican Miracle
By A couple of people on Twitter thought when they read the description that my article about Kansas would be about Louisiana. And, certainly, Republican governance has been a disaster in the Pelican State as well:
Louisiana’s flagship university began putting together the paperwork for declaring financial exigency this week when the Legislature appeared to make little progress on finding a state budget solution, according to F. King Alexander, president and chancellor of LSU.
“We don’t say that to scare people,” he said. “Basically, it is how we are going to survive.”
Moody’s Investors Service also announced this month that it was lowering LSU’s credit outlook from positive to stable based on concerns about the university’s overall financial support. The lowering of LSU’s credit rating makes it more likely the university will have to pay more for its building projects in the future.
Being in a state of financial exigency means a university’s funding situation is so difficult that the viability of the entire institution is threatened. The status makes it easier for public colleges to shut down programs and lay off tenured faculty, but it also tarnishes the school’s reputation, making it harder to recruit faculty and students.
“You’ll never get any more faculty,” said Alexander, if LSU pursues financial exigency.
The Louisiana Legislature is closing out its meetings this week without having made much progress in finding more funding for universities, colleges and others. Louisiana’s higher education community is facing an 82 percent funding cut if no extra state money is found.
The change would bring state funding for LSU from around $3,500 per undergraduate student to $660 per undergraduate student next year.
Have the tax cuts that devastated Lousiania’s public services led to more economic growth? Haha no.
Needless to say, aggressively promoting anti-LBGT public policy is the next step.