AU LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

["President's Office" <auemail@groupwise1.duc.auburn.edu>]

May 25, 2001 							

Dear Members of the Auburn Community:

Our Governmental Affairs Executive Director Buddy Mitchell termed the
end of the Alabama legislative session May 14 "overpowering bedlam" with
the Senate mired "deeply in manipulation tactics." The results were not
totally favorable to Auburn University, and even though the session is
over, the war over education funding is not.

This legislative session was punctuated by critical votes. We asked you
to raise your concerns with legislators and other state officials. You
did so, time and again. I deeply appreciate your active support of our
cause and our positions. One legislator after another has expressed
admiration or at least recognition for our activism. Higher education
has emerged as a potent force in our state's political scene. 

Despite strong opposition from Auburn and other four-year institutions,
the $110 million bond issue was approved by the House and Senate, then
signed by Gov. Siegelman. Ever since the governor proposed the bond
measure, higher education opposed it as an ill-advised, short-term fix.
In the aftermath, others, including Dr. Paul Hubbert of the Alabama
Education Association who aggressively pushed for passage of this bond
issue, admit that it is bad public policy. How true: Because of
decreased revenue projections for FY02, the state is even forced to
borrow funds for the first year's debt service as part of the overall
bond issue debt. 

The bond revenues will be distributed based on the result of a suit
between K-12 and higher education concerning proration cuts, pending
before the Alabama Supreme Court. The bond revenues may only be used for
capital improvement, not for the critically needed operating expenses
syphoned by proration. If the court does not rule by September 30, the
bond issue law expires and no bonds will be sold. This provision
supports the concept that the bond issue was to be used to offset a
shortfall in revenue during this fiscal year, which ends September 30.
The court can consider the proration suit as soon as all briefs are
filed. The filing deadline is May 29. The court's decision will be a
pivotal one with regard to the future funding of higher education in
this state.

The 2001-02 Auburn appropriation breakdown:

Auburn University O&M $131,338,632
Auburn University at Montgomery O&M 18,757,192
(includes $37,522 in community outreach)
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station 23,464,016
Alabama Cooperative Extension System 26,259,331
AU-AL Technology Network 1,477,350

Total Auburn University System $201,296,521

Because of the uncertainty of projected revenue, the Education Trust
Fund appropriation measure allows a three member committee - State
Finance Director Henry Mabry, House Ways and Means Chair Richard Lindsey
and Senate Finance and Taxation Chair Hank Sanders - to reduce
appropriations up to one percent if tax collections indicate
insufficient dollars will be available to fund the budget. The
committee's decision must be made prior to August 31 if budgets will be
reduced.  Hopefully, revenues will improve in the next four months.  We
anticipate at least two Special Sessions: One to complete the work of
the Regular Session, the other to address legislative reapportionment
(the redrawing of legislative districts based on the latest census
numbers on population).

This budget battle that involved the executive, legislative and
judicial branches of Alabama state government also produced a collegial,
productive partnering within higher education. The AlabamAuburn Alliance
positioned the two flagship universities side-by-side. In a Montgomery
news conference, University of Alabama President Andrew Sorensen and I
were joined by our football coaches, Tommy Tuberville and Dennis
Franchione, as we articulated the funding crisis. Public meetings in
Dothan, Mobile and Huntsville paired representatives of both
universities. Our audiences, legislators, even the news media, took
notice of this collegial approach. 

I wanted you to have this status report and once again to thank you for
working so hard on behalf of Auburn. But let me repeat: The war over
education funding is not over. 


Sincerely, 

William F. Walker
Interim President
Auburn University