SEMO GETS $52 MILLION FROM STATE; CARNAHAN SIGNS BUDGET TOTALING $16.2 BILLION

Southeast Missouri State University officials couldn't be happier with the university's $52.7 million share of the state budget.

The funding includes $4.6 million for the its River Campus project.

State Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, mirrored their enthusiasm. "The university is doing splendidly," he said.

Gov. Mel Carnahan signed the $16.2 billion state budget Tuesday. Spending on education accounted for nearly a third of the total package for fiscal 2000. The fiscal year begins July 1.

The state appropriation for Southeast was just over $48 million in operating funds. That is $2.5 million or 5.6 percent more than a year ago, said Dr. Ken Dobbins, Southeast's executive vice president and soon-to-be president.

The operating funds include $70,000 for the university to hire a genetic researcher to work with the rice growers association in Southeast Missouri to develop types of rice that can be imported to European markets.

Another $70,000 has been earmarked for planning efforts to have three routes in Southeast Missouri designated as federal scenic byways.

The proposed routes:

-- Crowley's Ridge, a geological area extending from Helena, Ark., northward to the Mississippi River at Commerce.

-- El Camino Real, a historic route extending from New Madrid to St. Louis along Highway 61 and Interstate 55.

-- Trail of Tears from Cape Girardeau westward into the Ozarks. The route reflects the forced migration of the Cherokee Indians in the 1800s.

The governor routinely withholds 3 percent of the money appropriated for state institutions and agencies.

In total, the university expects to receive $46.6 million from the state for operating expenses. That would be $2.4 million more than it received this year, Southeast's budget office reported.

Southeast has garnered a good share of state dollars in recent years. Since fiscal year 1993, state appropriations for operating expenses at Southeast have increased over 50 percent from $31 million in fiscal 1993 to $48 million in fiscal 2000, Dobbins said.

Those figures don't include money for capital projects such as the business building and the River Campus.

Dr. Dale Nitzschke, Southeast's president, credits the governor's leadership in funding education.

"I have been in a lot of different states and worked with a lot of different governors. He is the only governor I know who claimed to be an education governor and actually delivered on his promise," Nitzschke said.

Carnahan has one year left in his term as governor.

Nitzschke said he hopes Southeast also will get a solid share of state funding again next year.

"We have one more year with him in there to get one more good appropriation for the operating budget," he said.

Nitzschke and Dobbins praised the efforts of Republican and Democratic lawmakers and the governor in securing state funds for the university. Both officials singled out the lobbying efforts of Don Dickerson, a Cape Girardeau lawyer and president of the Board of Regents.

Dickerson, a close friend of Carnahan, took the lead in lobbying for funding for the River Campus project. Southeast wants to spend $35.6 million to develop old St. Vincent's Seminary into a school for the visual and performing arts. The university wants the state to pay half of the cost or $17.8 million.

Carnahan initially didn't include the project in his proposed budget, unveiled in January. Later in the legislative session, he revised his budget, adding $4.6 million for the project.

Lawmakers included the project in their spending plan. The governor's action Tuesday made it official.

Nitzschke said Southeast will ask for $13.2 million next year to round out the state money needed for the River Campus.

Dobbins and Nitzschke said state funding for the River Campus occurred because there was support from the governor and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

"Really, this was a team effort," said Dobbins.