University of Houston - Houstonian Yearbook (Houston, TX)

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Hobby Calls Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby says Texans will be unable to compete for jobs in the future unless community support for public school reform continues. “It is critical now to ensure that our budget crisis doesn’t become an excuse to repeal school reform, he told area educators at the UH Hilton. Our state faces a $6 billion gap between expected revenues and proposed spending levels. Public school spending is about 50 percent of our budget. Education may be expensive, but it is not a luxury. Texas needs strong support for its universities as well as elementary and secondary schools, he said. By the year 2000, almost one-quarter of all jobs will require some college edcuation. Hobby said in an interview that UH shouldn’t feel threatened by the Select Committee on Higher Education s proposal for regional university boards. For Reform There seems to be a level of concern, (for UH’s future) that is out of phase with any realistic problem, he said. I don’t sec any particular advantage in having regional boards, and it will certainly never happen. The committee s recommendations would not change the role of state universities, he said. UH, UT-Dallas and other universities have equal opportunity to become major research institutions, because universities, not legislatures, determine their own fates. Hobby said. UT-Dallas attracts an enormous amount of research dollars — perhaps more than UH does — not because they are treated differently by the appropriations bill, but because of the excellence of the university, he said. UH is a major public institution in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country, and it will in time come to re- — Or Else fleet that. Hobby said the legislative Budget Board appointed by Gov. Bill Clements has recommended a a $671 million education budget that would bring education funds back to the 1985 level and repair the damage of previous cuts. He said taxes will be raised to fund the increase, but he declined to speculate on the type or amount of tax that would be used. Hobby said the select committee’s recommendations wouldn’t change the status of UT or Texas A M because only they have access to the Permanent University Fund. Clements' recommendations for higher education include tapping the PUF for research and other programs. But Hobby said the PUF battle was fought last summer. The attempt to raise the funds didn’t go anywhere,” he said. Things haven't changed. However, Hobby said, that’s not the only source of funds. UH’s costs are offset by the Higher Education Fund (Proposition 2), and UH has access to construction money not available to A M and UT. You can’t have 57 world-class universities. If UH wants to become a first-class research institution, it should attract the researchers. UH or any other institution has to earn the research fund, Hobby said. A university must develop its skills and excellence, and then come the funds. Hobby was at UH to address a conference, sponsored by the Center for Public Policy, on the consequences of House Bill 72. On that subject, he said he regretted that the public school reform got its impetus outside the educational community. It is disappointing that the initiative for HB 72 came largely from our business community,” he said. Our teachers and administrators should be out front demanding higher achievement, rather than taking refuge in the status quo. Positive effects of school reform included better Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, uniform measures of academic achievement for students, evaluation of teachers’ performance based on statewide standards, and increased state aid per student to $1,579 in 1986 from $1,515 in 1985, he said. High school graduates are not, however, prepared to compete with progressive countries such as Japan or even old-fashioned Russians,” Hobby said. Our dropout rate is far too high when one-third of our ninth-graders don’t finish high school and nearly one-fifth of adults haven't finished junior high school. — James Millsap Lt. Governor Bill Hobby has taken a strong stand in favor of higher education, UH President Richard Van Horn said. At left Hobby addresses the special session of the legislature in Austin during the 1986 budget crisis. The State's decision to cut 10.5 percent from its higher education budget can mean big set-backs for UH, including vacant teaching positions, smaller variety of classes and possibly the elemination of entire degree programs. Photo by l an Alder. Above Hobby discusses budget matters and reform measures in the Hilton Hotel lobby with James Millsap Photo by Michael Williams. 21

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Budget Woes 20

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Stormy Seas Ahead For UH UH officials say the university will have to dig deeper into savings to come up with an extra $2.2 million to meet a tentative 10.5 percent cut proposed by the state legislature. The legislature agreed to cut $510 million from higher education, a figure that translates to a loss of about $8.2 million for UH, said Peter Fitzgerald, vice president for administration. A plan has already been drawn up to take care of about $6 million in cuts, but more reductions will have to be made to reach the $8.2 million level. Fitzgerald said. The presidents at each component of the UH System will be holding meetings to determine methods for making budgets meet the legislatures figures. They will report to the Board of Regents, Chairwoman Debbie Hanna said. President Richard Van Horn said the figure is somewhat more than expected, more than we hoped for.” Hanna, however, said she considers the 10.5 percent cut a victory. “I never thought the day Budget troubles forced Gov. Mark White to call for a series of Cuts in the spring of ‘86. As if to blame White for the crisis. Texas voters elected Bill Clements Governor in November. Clements said he will raise the education budget to $671 million, its 198S level. would come when I would consider cuts in the 10 percent range a victory, but now I do, Hanna said. The university system and its components were facing deep and devastating cuts.” Van Horn said the real damage will come in 1988. In 88 we ll have to cut the programs back the full 10 percent, if it appears that no new funds will come to the university- The House-Senate conference committee voted 9-1 to accept the bill to cut the $2.8 billion state budget, but some cleanup work still has to be done. We already have a plan, but it would be premature to determine how the exact figures will impact us, Fitzgerald, said. UH met Gov. Mark White s call for cuts in Spring 1986 with freezes on hiring and capital expenditures like construction, savings in utilties, travel restrictions and the doubling of parking fees. In addition, campus depart-ments were asked to cut 3 percent from their operating bud-gets. Van Horn said he expected UH's appropriation to be cut by 9 percent, which is $7.2 million of the original appropriation of $80 million. The Senate originally proposed an overall 7 percent cut of $117.6 million to higher education in Texas. The contrasting House cut was for 18.5 percent, or $320.) million. UH's $80 million share of the appropriation would have been cut by $6 million under the Senate proposal and by $16 million under the House proposal. 22 — Kristin Jacobsen