The Virginia General Assembly released its budget proposal Sunday with less drastic cuts to higher education than expected. The revised plan would restore some funding to the University's Center for Politics and the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, which previously faced cuts totaling $625,865 and $1.14 million, respectively.
In the conference committee, legislators reconciled the differences between the proposals of the Democrat-controlled Senate and the Republican House of Delegates. Disagreements arose regarding basic questions such as how much money is available, where it will come from and how to spend it, said Ken Stroupe, chief of staff at the University's Center for Politics.
Another primary difference, Stroupe explained, was the extent to which taxes and fees would be levied to make up the budget shortfall.
"The House was generally insisting on fewer fees and on tax increases while the Senate version had substantially more fees," Stroupe said.
The General Assembly favored the Senate's strategy, restoring cuts to the level originally proposed by former Gov. Tim Kaine. Previous estimates effectively would have eliminated the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities during coming years. Now, VFH President Robert Vaughan said the foundation will manage to survive and grow.
"We came out much better than we expected to," Vaughan said. "We're going to be fine going forward."
During the past two-and-a-half years, the foundation has lost three positions because of attrition and roughly $300,000 in grants. Although this past year was a "daunting challenge," Vaughan said he is optimistic about the future.
"I'm very pleased that the General Assembly either didn't cut or restored funding for a number of cultural institutions," he said.
Gov. Bob McDonnell and Virginia legislators seem to agree that higher education has suffered its fair share of budget cuts in the past. Instead, legislators proposed heavy cuts to public K-12 education in an attempt to raise revenues without increasing taxes.
Though still unfinished, the basic structure of Virginia's budget has been set, said Isaac Wood, assistant communications director for the Center for Politics and former Cavalier Daily opinion columnist.
"There may be some tinkering around the edges," he said. "The governor does have wide authority with line-item veto powers ... But so far he seems to have signaled that he's happy with the compromises."
Stroupe said he feels it is premature to judge the final outcome because the budget still has a ways to go before achieving final passage.
"I certainly prefer where we are now versus where we were when there were separate versions, [but] the budget as the General Assembly adopted it on Sunday is not the final biennial budget that the state will end up with," he said.
Wood said the legislature will most likely reconvene in the next month to approve McDonnell's changes.
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