By PAULA TRACY, GARRY RAYNO, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – Higher education leaders went to the Senate Finance Committee Friday to request budget funding be restored to the governor’s recommended level for the next two years and that they reject the 30 percent cut by the House calling it “unsustainable.”
The committee also heard a similar request from the Commissioner of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources which would see a 22 percent cut under the terms of the House budget.
They heard from other departments throughout the day facing less dire cuts under the Republican-led version in the House and ended the day on good news from the Lottery Commission expecting to revise revenues upwards from gambling.
USNH
There could be tuition increases, fewer programs offered or consolidated, the schools could be priced out of the increasingly competitive market for students and a reduction in bond ratings as a consequence of the House budget if passed, USNH officials warned.
It is facing a 30 percent cut in general fund revenue from the state over the next biennium under the House budget or $57 million over the two years.
The University System of NH includes campuses in Durham, Keene, Plymouth and Manchester which now enroll 26,000 of which half of the students are out-of-state residents.
New Hampshire invests in its students with tuition help but Sen. Cindy Rosenwald, D-Nashua noted New Hampshire provides the lowest percent of tuition help of any state system in the nation.
What would the tuition increase with a $57 million cut mean to tuition, she asked?
“It’s not sustainable,” said USNH Chancellor Catherine Provencher, noting the system faces a structural deficit now. “Our enrollment is going to fall off if we increase tuition…we wouldn’t be able to charge that.”
USNH Board Chair Michael J. Pilot said it would push the USNH product out of the market for students.
Pilot and Provencher talked about the return on investment to the state in terms of the workforce that stays and the need to train for the next generation as the state’s working population ages.
Provencher asked for a budget more in line with that of Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s noting “the New Hampshire Advantage depends on that.”
Pilot said higher education is going through a “tectonic shift” right now with the reduction in the number of potential students.
He said what the institutions do would not be possible without the partnership of the state which helps in-state students afford an education.
A New Hampshire resident pays 42 percent of what an out-of-state student pays.
Pilot noted that there is an alignment now between the top 12 paying occupations most are in business – but also health and education and the students’ needs “where our students’ opportunities are greatest.” For the first time since 2013 senators were told the number of in-state students increased this past fall.
Provencher said USNH has contained staffing levels, reduced medical plan benefits and increased premiums, sold old buildings and is leasing space to bring down costs, since 2019.
She also noted if the House budget numbers stand it is highly likely that the USNH bond rating will be downgraded.
“This kind of cut, when we need to get through the next five years of headwinds, will pull the rug out from under us,” Provencher said.
Community College System.
The House was kinder to the Community College System of New Hampshire cutting its budget by about $4 million over the next biennium from what Ayotte proposed.
System Chancellor Mark Rubinstein said the system works closely with the state and businesses to tailor programs to the needs such as nurses, and the multiple campuses around the state allows for unique programs to specific areas of the state.
“This allows us to meet students where they are,” Rubinstein said, “and to tailor programs to meet specific needs in New Hampshire.”
He noted the system worked to expand its nursing programs and early childhood education programs.
Under the governor’s proposed budget, the CCSNH would receive $140 million over the upcoming biennium which is a $4 million increase over the current biennium, and the House reduced it to $136 million.
The reductions were $3 million for continuing the tuition freeze that like the USNH has been in place for six years, and $1 million for the Dual and Concurrent Enrollment program that allows high school students to take college courses and receive both high school and college credit, reducing the cost of higher education.
Rubinstein was asked how he might account for the reductions, and he said the trustees are aware they may need to raise tuition.
Even with a freeze, students need to have access to a high quality program, he said. “If you are not going to develop quality,” he said, “why do it at all.”
Rubinstein asked the Senate to consider returning the $1 million to the Dual and Concurrent Program, noting that is not something that could be funded with a tuition increase.
He noted, the $2.5 million investment this past year served 10,000 students who earned 54,400 credits which is a savings of about $14 million for the students and their families and he would expect similar returns with additional money.
He said the program allows students to avoid debt, get a head start on college and opens pathways for students both through the community college and university systems.
“These are immeasurable returns on that investment,” Rubinstein said. “This is the one area if the Senate can find that funding.”
The committee continues meeting with agency heads Monday beginning at 1 p.m. in Room 103 in the State House, mostly with the Department of Health and Human Services and affiliated programs like New Hampshire Hospital and Glencliff Home.
ARTS AND NATURAL RESOURCES
New Hampshire would be the only state to eliminate its support to arts by abolishing the Arts Council which provides grants for arts programing across the state, said Commissioner of Natural and Cultural Resources Sarah Stewart.
Her department includes the Division of Parks, Forest and Lands, historic resources, the State Library and the NH state Council on the Arts.
Former Gov. Chris Sununu, expecting that there would be less money around for this biennial budget had Stewart reduce the overall budget by 4 percent and the governor’s budget looked to cut it by 11 percent. Stewart said she worked with division heads to “creatively and nimbly” reduce the budget and the department was given an “A Plus” for their efforts by House Finance Committee chairman Ken Weyler.
But what passed the House was a budget which would represent a 22 percent cut of the department’s general fund cuts.
JUSTICE
Attorney General John Formella, whose Department of Justice would face a $14.7 million cut in the House budget, pleaded for grant programs to help protect children who are victims of crime and several other grants in terms of his priority.
He told the committee the way to think about the department are the roles of the attorney general from chief law enforcement officer, chief prosecutor of the state who work with county attorneys and provide state advice and its lawyers in court, and chief public protection officer for the state.
Within the department there are 213 positions, he said.
He noted that the department brings in money from various recoveries or state losses.
While the House left much of the budget intact, it gave it a $14.7 million back of the budget cut.
“We did take some reductions in the governor’s phase that stayed in the House version including eight unfunded positions for $1.6 million,” Formella said and a restructure of the drug task force that was shifted to the Department of Safety.
The back of the budget cuts would force cuts in internet crimes against children grant, VOCA grants for victims of crime and child advocacy.
In order of priority he said he would want to save the internet crimes against children grant.
which in the last biennium was $1.3 million.
He said this is very important work with a task force led by Portsmouth Police.
In just the past two years the task force has led 1,200 investigations, 65 child victims were identified and almost 100 arrests made.
LOTTERY
The good news came at the end of the day when Charles McIntyre, who heads up the Lottery said net revenues have tripled and expenses have not more than doubled in recent years.
He said the good news is that his agency’s projected revenues will be revised upwards before the Senate has to take a vote on the two-year budget .
The Senate has until June 5 to act on its budget.