COLLEGE BOARD RECOMMENDS 12.5 PERCENT FUNDING RAISE

Missouri's Coordinating Board for Higher Education wants the state to spend $642 million for general operations at Missouri's 13 public, four-year colleges and universities in fiscal 1997.

Southeast Missouri State University would receive $40 million of it or about $3 million more than the fiscal 1996 appropriation, CBHE figures show.

"We believe this is a very good increase," said Dr. Ken Dobbins, Southeast's executive vice president.

The budget decisions ultimately rest with Gov. Mel Carnahan and the Missouri Legislature. The legislative session begins today in Jefferson City.

The recommended funding statewide is $71.7 million or 12.5 percent more than the core budget for the four-year schools for the current fiscal year.

The increase includes $28 million for salary increases and inflation, $8.8 million for information technology improvements and $13.5 million in incentive funds through the Funding for Results program.

Technology improvements include everything from fiber optics to computer hookups.

"We still have campuses where not all the faculty have a decent computer with access to the Internet," said Eldon Wallace, the CBHE's associate commissioner of finance. "It is an expensive proposition."

The four-year colleges had proposed spending $1.25 billion on general operations, with $660.1 million or 52.5 percent coming from state funds. Student fees, federal money, sales and other sources would make up the remainder of the revenue.

The budget figures don't include capital improvements funding.

The CBHE has recommended $44.5 million in state funding for capital improvements at the various campuses. That is substantially less than the $336 million requested by the four-year schools.

The state has gone to a two-year appropriation cycle for capital improvements, and schools are in the second year of the cycle.

"There was debate about whether to have a capital request this year," said Wallace.

In the end, the coordinating board recommended funding largely to complete capital improvement projects that were already under way, Wallace said.

The capital funding recommendation includes $1.15 million for Southeast. It includes planning money for renovation of the social science building and a monitoring system that will allow the school to centralize its fire alarms.

Higher education has been on a solid footing in terms of state funding in recent years.

"The economy is perking along pretty decently," said Wallace. "We would hope we could keep our existing share and perhaps come up with some additional investments that would put us in a good situation for next year."

But Dobbins said the funding picture won't come into clear focus until it is known how federal budget cuts will impact Missouri.