ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 31, 1996 TAG: 9601310064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: PHILIP WALZER LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
Hoping to capitalize on a new-found sympathy for higher education, Virginia college presidents pressed their case Tuesday for $340 million more in state funding for universities.
``Today, we stand united - with the business community - in our appeal that you put Virginia where it belongs: first in higher education,'' Timothy J. Sullivan, the president of the College of William and Mary, told the Senate Finance Committee.
``Six years of underinvestment have left us with a critical choice: We must reverse this erosion of academic strength, or consign our students to a path that leads to mediocrity.''
Gov. George Allen has proposed increasing the operating budget for colleges by $105 million over the next two years, but the presidents are seeking an additional $340 million to make up for deep budget cuts of the early '90s. Together, the $445 million increase would lift Virginia to the average for per-student funding at Southern colleges and universities.
In a carefully choreographed presentation, six other presidents spoke, each homing in on a particular budget item.
Members of the Finance Committee's education subcommittee offered sympathetic responses and virtually no hostile questions.
``We know increased support for higher education is the top priority; I think everyone agrees with that,'' Sen. Stanley Walker, D-Norfolk and co-chairman of the Finance Committee, told the presidents.
Yet legislators say it's unlikely they can fully fund the colleges' request. ``At this point, I'm not sure that goal is achievable,'' said Sen. John Chichester, R-Fredericksburg and also co-chairman of the Finance Committee.
Legislators must decide soon where and whether they can find the money. In two weeks, the finance panel must vote on a budget, Chichester said.
Privately, some college leaders have said an increase of $100 million or $200 million would be a good start. ``There may be a multiyear solution to our budget problems, just as there was a multiyear series of events that led us to where we are now,'' said Eugene P. Trani, president of Virginia Commonwealth University.
The warm reception the presidents received Tuesday stands in sharp contrast to their fate in the early '90s, when then-Gov. Douglas Wilder and legislators berated faculty members for not teaching enough and colleges for excessive spending and unnecessary academic programs.
Now, both parties want to bump up Allen's allocation for colleges, and hardly anyone is attacking the schools.
Observers say the legislators - and the public - have got the message that after years of budget cuts, the state's well-respected college system teeters on the brink of decline. And they credit Til Hazel, a Northern Virginia businessman, for driving it home.
Hazel, chairman of the Virginia Business Higher Education Council, a coalition of business leaders who want to increase spending for colleges, has pounded away at the numbers: Virginia ranks 43rd in the nation in spending per college student. Second highest, behind Vermont, in tuition costs at non-doctoral universities. The bottom third of the country in faculty salaries.
``People are recognizing that something has to be done,'' said Paul Trible, the former Republican U.S. senator who's president of Christopher Newport University.
``We are now doing less than states in the Deep South with whom we have never compared ourselves and who have never been known for their progressive policies in education.''
Hazel, who was the first speaker Tuesday, won lavish praise from the senators for his efforts.
Robert Holsworth, director of the Center for Public Policy at VCU, said Hazel has been so persuasive because he himself is a Republican and his message has gone beyond education to focus on the state's economic health.
Holsworth also noted that the colleges' restructuring efforts - such as trimming administrative expenses and increasing teaching loads - have won over some critics.
Also helping the cause, Trible said, is that the presidents are speaking in one voice. They all have backed the $340 million amendment, which spells out exactly how much each school would get.
Joking about the presidents' decision to join forces, Sen. Warren Barry, R-Fairfax County, said at the start of the meeting: ``I've never seen anything more frightening.''
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