Message from Interim President Walker

[Gopher administrator <gophrad@mail.auburn.edu>]

As the first 2001 Extraordinary (Special) Session of the Alabama
Legislature draws to a close today, I want to provide a summary of what
has transpired over the past couple of weeks.  I believe it is important
that we all understand the recent actions of the governor and the
legislature regarding proration, and the impact those actions will have on
Auburn University and our continuing efforts to prevent further cuts to
higher education funding. 

Over the past few weeks, I, along with other college presidents, have had
a number of discussions and meetings with the governor and various members
of the legislative leadership related to how to handle proration of the
Education Trust Fund (ETF). Our message has been consistent: Cut all
segments of education equally and protect the livelihood of all education
employees in the state, not just those in K-12. 

As you know, Alabama law prohibits deficit spending and requires
across-the-board cuts in spending when tax collections fall below
appropriations.  A drop in collection of sales taxes and corporate income
taxes prompted Governor Siegelman to order a 6.2 % cut in all education
appropriations on February 2.  That sliced $266 million off the $4.3
billion education budget.  For Auburn University, this represents almost
$13 million. 

Following the declaration of proration, the Alabama Association of School
Boards countered with a lawsuit against the governor. On February 15,
Judge Tracy McCooey ruled that the governor's proration order violated the
constitutional right of K-12 students to an "equitable and adequate
education," and that the governor could not cut funding for teachers'
salaries and benefits, textbooks, school supplies, transportation and
special schools. However, her ruling would not become effective until 5
p.m. Tuesday, February 27,  to allow the legislature time to address the
situation.  Auburn University, along with several universities, and  the
Attorney General asked Judge McCooey to delay her order while we appealed
to the Alabama Supreme Court. She denied the request. We proceeded with
the appeal, and as a result, the state's highest court quickly stepped in
February 28 to stay Judge McCooey's ruling in a 9-0 ruling. 

In the meantime, the governor called the Alabama Legislature into a
Special Session on February 22 to address the proration issue and
introduced a package of bills. However, none of the bills he introduced
addressed the specific amount Auburn University or any other segment of
education would be cut. In fact, one of the bills sought to change the
current proration statute, providing extensive authority to the governor
to selectively apply proration (HB2), while other bills relaxed
requirements in the use of funds appropriated to the Public School and
College Authority (PSCA) and the K-12 Foundation Program. The governor's
package did not include a bill that would repeal the current budget act
and re-appropriate the available dollars based on the reductions in sales
tax and the corporate income tax. A bill of this nature would have
alleviated proration altogether and, in essence, would have reduced all
segments of education equally by 6.2%.  Both a Senate version and a House
version of a revised budget were introduced; neither version survived
because of the staunch opposition by the governor and the Alabama
Education Association (AEA). All four-year universities supported a
revised budget bill as a short term solution for the current year dilemma. 

The unprecedented joining of forces by the four-year universities blocked
passage of a bill in the governor's package that would have set in motion
a continuing reduction of funding for higher education in the years to
come (HB2). The governor and AEA fought hard for this bill.  The four-year
institution presidents met with the governor several times and on each
occasion stated emphatically that we supported equal treatment regarding
cuts and that university salaries should be protected to the same degree
as K-12 salaries. On each occasion, the governor rejected our suggestions.
The governor offered only one-time money, specifically a bond issue, to
cover expenses of salaries and operations, including academic programs on
both the AU and the  AUM campuses, the Agricultural Experiment Station and
the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. In return for a lower rate of
proration and the one-time funding, the governor expected the four-year
institutions to push for passage of HB2. I had no choice but to decline
these options, as I felt using one-time money for continuing expenses and
helping AEA further erode our funding were fiscally irresponsible and
clearly not in the best interest of Auburn University. 

The presidents held fast on their position not to accept one-time bond
money for operations of the universities and insisted that university
faculty and staff be protected just like the K-12 employees.  The governor
then called on the Attorney General for an opinion related to local school
boards' use of state funds as provided in the Education Accountability Act
of 1995. This opinion declared no salaries in K-12 could be cut, giving
Governor Siegelman ammunition to justify his intent to place the majority
of the proration burden on the backs of the higher education. As a result,
we are faced with 11.69% proration for FY01. Auburn University, the
University of Alabama and several other institutions are now in the
process of contesting that opinion. 

The Special Session ends at midnight Monday, March 5, with no solution to
help Auburn University solve the financial problems facing our great
institution. The Senate leadership and other members of the Alabama Senate
stood firm for the four-year institutions and passed a revised budget bill
(SB24) that treated all segments of education equally.  Unfortunately,
despite the efforts of higher education supporters in the House of
Representatives, the House leadership refused to consider this bill, so it
died upon adjournment of the House last Friday. 

We can be proud of Auburn University's role in successfully blocking the
governor's bill that would have gutted four-year institutions in the years
ahead. Please know that Auburn University and other four-year institutions
will continue to work with the governor to seek new sources of funds not
only to reduce this current year's proration but also to address the
funding shortage for FY02. The Regular Session of the Alabama Legislature
resumes Tuesday, March 6. 

In this message, I have attempted to outline and to put into perspective
the very difficult political battle Auburn University has faced over the
past two weeks.  We are exploring new funding options and we await the
Alabama Supreme Court's consideration of our appeal. As we pursue the
contest of the Attorney General's opinion, I encourage you to continue
your efforts to ensure that Auburn University is treated equally and
fairly in the budgeting process, to ensure that your salaries as
university employees are protected,  and to ensure that our Auburn
University students are protected. We will keep you posted on any progress
and welcome your input on ways we can counter these deplorable attacks on
Auburn University. 

William F. Walker
Interim President