Good afternoon,
The Board of Regents met at the Charleston campus today to discuss the state’s nearly $900 million budget deficit. We estimate this will mean a 22 percent cut in general fund appropriations to the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE). This would mean a statewide cut to Nevada colleges and universities of about $37 million for the remainder of this year and $110 million for next year.
For CSN, we estimate that this would mean a budget reduction of about $6 million this fiscal year and $18 million next year.
I urge you to watch Chancellor Klaich’s presentation below for more details.
To summarize, regents discussed the possibility of declaring a financial emergency, pending the outcome of the special legislative session, which we expect to take place late February or early March. Declaring financial exigency – emergency is much easier to say — allows the system to take more extreme measures to handle the budget deficit, including implementing layoffs and pay reductions.
Regents expressed their desire to proceed cautiously. Presidents will not put forth plans that are not considered sustainable. An overlying message was that no one group can bear the sole burden of this budget cut and that our priority must be to protect our missions.
Chair Leavitt stressed that advocacy efforts should be focused on writing letters and contacting the following legislators: (You can find contact information for each of them at the following site: http://leg.state.nv.us/ – click on the “Assembly” or “Senate” links to get e-mail addresses and telephone numbers for individual legislators.)
Sen. Bernice Mathews
Sen. Steven Horsford
Sen. Bill Raggio
Assemblyman Morse Arberry Jr.
Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley
Assemblyman Marcus Conklin
Assemblywoman Heidi Gansert
Assemblywoman Debbie Smith
I also urge you to write your legislative representative. You can find out who represents you at: http://mapserve.leg.state.nv.us/website/lcb/viewer.htm
I will continue to pass along information as we have it. I urge you to talk about these issues with your colleagues, contact your legislators and stay informed.