Southeast regents approve $151 million spending plan, no pay raises

Southeast Missouri State University plans to spend $151 million to educate students in fiscal 2019 under a budget approved Tuesday by the school�s board of regents.

Regents unanimously adopted a $114 million operating budget, and a $37 million budget for operation of residence halls, Show Me Center and other auxiliary services designed to be self supporting.

University salaries will not be increased under this spending plan, officials said.

Kathy Mangels, vice president of finance and administration, said the university is balancing the budget by reducing expenses and increasing revenue to make up for cuts in state aid.

The cost-cutting moves include the elimination of 52 vacant and filled staff positions and two vacant faculty positions as well as the elimination of instruction at the Malden, Missouri, campus and restructuring of departments, school officials said.

Regents lamented the decline in state aid.

Board president Donald LaFerla said, �The pie keeps getting smaller every year.�

Mangels said state funding is expected to account for less than 36 percent of total funding in the university�s operating budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, down from 42 percent in fiscal 2017.

Gov. Mike Parson has not signed into law state appropriations for higher education.

But school officials have projected a 7.7 percent reduction in state appropriations ($3.37 million) from fiscal 2018 levels after one-time state withholdings.

State appropriations for Southeast are expected to total more than $40 million, according to budget documents.

Tuition and student fees, in contrast, are expected to total more than $69 million, accounting for nearly 61 percent of Southeast�s funding in the new fiscal year operating budget.

School president Carlos Vargas-Aburto said public colleges and universities in Missouri �are being privatized without a plan� as they must increasingly rely on tuition and student fees to cover expenses.

Salaries and benefits are expected to total $82.7 million or about 62 percent of the operating budget, university records show.

Academic affairs accounts for nearly half of projected expenses in the operating budget. Finance and administration expenses are 14.9 percent of the operating budget, according to the spending plan.

Southeast plans to spend $6.2 million on athletics, accounting for 5.5 percent of the $114 million operating budget.

LaFerla said the amount allocated to athletics is �pretty low.�

In other action, the regents approved a new minor � Spanish for the health professions. University officials said the minor will provide interested students in health-professions degree programs with experience in communicating in Spanish.

Linda Garner, associate professor of nursing at Southeast wrote a letter in support of the minor, explaining it is important for health professionals to be able to communicate with the growing number of Spanish-speaking patients.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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