SEMO OFFICIAL SAYS EDUCATION REFORM NO DEAD ISSUE

The defeat of Proposition B has not buried the issue of education reform, says a Southeast Missouri State University official.

Art Wallhausen, assistant to the president at Southeast, said education reform will be the focus of much attention this year at the college level.

At the Governor's Conference on Higher Education in December in Kansas City, Gov. John Ashcroft challenged educators to find ways to carry out reforms, despite tight state finances.

"There is broad, bipartisan expectation of and support for the implementation of many of the ideas contained in Proposition B," Ashcroft said.

Ashcroft sent a letter to college and university presidents in December asking them to respond to the challenges outlined at the conference and to implement the planning and accountability reforms contained in Proposition B.

Ashcroft wants Missouri's colleges and universities to work with the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education to refine missions, eliminate duplicate programs and provide greater accountability, Wallhausen said.

Refining the missions of the state's universities and colleges is a top goal, Wallhausen said. "The coordinating board is going to be looking very carefully at missions," he said.

"Some of the reform is bound to be in the direction of fewer programs at each institution, while maintaining the (education) services that the state needs," said Wallhausen.

Ashcroft said in Kansas City that higher education must "excel beyond the accomplishments of the past, and do so within the fiscal realities of today."

Wallhausen said, "Funding will be a major problem, but the reform issue is going to take up a lot of time this year."

Wallhausen, like other education officials in Missouri, is predicting tough times for colleges and universities in terms of state funding. "I don't think there will be any new state funding for higher education," he said.

Wallhausen said lawmakers are talking of adding $80 million to the state's foundation formula, the basic method of distributing state aid to public elementary and secondary schools.

To do that, it appears funding for other state agencies may be cut, he said. That could mean even more limited funding for Missouri's higher education system, Wallhausen said.

"I think everything is vulnerable at this point," he said.

In 1991, despite sizable budget cuts, officials at the state's universities and colleges had hoped voters would approve Proposition B, the $385 million tax-and-reform package for education. But it was defeated on Nov. 5.

"You don't find that optimism now," said Wallhausen. "The mood is pretty pessimistic."

Wallhausen said officials at Southeast in January will begin the task of drawing up a budget for the 1993 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

"I think there will have to be some retrenchment, whether we are talking about actual programs being cut or whether we are talking about major reductions in services," he said.

Wallhausen said the university administration and the Board of Regents will be looking at the issue of student fees early in the semester. Any decision to raise fees for the next academic year would likely be made by February or March, he said.

As a budgetary move, the university campus was virtually closed over the holiday period.

University offices will reopen at 8 a.m. today as the campus begins gearing up for another semester. Students may register for spring semester classes next week.

New students will begin moving into campus residence halls on Thursday, with returning students expected back over the weekend.

Spring semester classes begin Jan. 13.