From staff and wire reports
Dalton Daily Citizen
DALTON — About 20 Dalton State College students joined the ranks of hundreds of college students around Georgia on Monday in a budget protest rally at the state Capitol.
They say they’re concerned that more than $250 million in proposed cuts to higher education funding could put some of their best professors out of jobs, create a harder path to graduation because of limited class selection and pare down important services like tutoring.
“I believe that as a student, I don’t want this just passed down,” said Patton Hunt, a DSC junior history major and student body president-elect. “I want to at least have my voice heard.”
It’s likely state officials backed off on cutting the budget as much as was proposed a few weeks ago — more than $500 million — because of the public outcry, said DSC student body president Daniel Sanchez. Monday’s visit was the second time students have traveled to Atlanta to voice their opinions.
Sanchez said he and student body presidents from several other colleges met for more than an hour with Gov. Sonny Perdue’s spokesman, Bert Brantley, and legal counsel Nels Patterson. The presidents made clear students want to meet formally with lawmakers before budget cuts, Sanchez said.
“They said they would look into it,” Sanchez said. “If they’re going to cut money from USG (the University System of Georgia), we want to have student representation there.”
Jade Carter, a sophomore studying biology, rallied on the Capitol steps for about two hours, holding signs to protest lawmakers’ proposal to slash funding to the Board of Regents, the agency that distributes state funding to the 35 colleges and universities in the university system.
“It was a really good experience,” she said. “I’ll probably look back at it years from now knowing I at least tried to make a difference.”
Freshman social work major Hilary Mellon said cutting class wasn’t difficult this time, but rallying in Atlanta will become more difficult if students feel the need to do it often.
Brantley said the governor’s current proposed budget for fiscal year 2011 is $17.1 billion, down from the current budget of $17.7 billion. It includes about a $250 million net reduction to the Board of Regents, he said. That includes transferring stimulus money from the upcoming budget year to the current one, and it also factors in an increase given each year for higher enrollment numbers.
About $2 billion of the Board of Regents’ $5.5 billion budget comes from state funds.
The students suggested increasing the state’s tax on cigarettes by $1-per-pack or boosting taxes on the state’s richest residents. Both options are unlikely in the GOP-led state legislature, where many leaders have pledged to balance the state’s budget without raising taxes.
Sanchez said another option to bring in more revenue is adding and taxing legalized gambling and taxing horse races.
Georgia’s budget is staggering from 15 months of declining revenues. Perdue last week was forced to make a new round of cuts to keep the state out of the red.
The state’s 35 colleges and universities had already been facing about $265 million in cuts for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Perdue has proposed moving $113 million in federal stimulus dollars forward into the current fiscal year, meaning colleges are facing another $113 million hole for the next fiscal year.
The cuts to the universities will also be offset some by $124 million in formula funding to deal with student enrollment growth.
Students argued that with the economy sputtering, education is more vital than ever. Some suggested that lawmakers who OK steep cuts to higher education will feel the wrath of voters at the ballot box.
State legislators are set to take up the revised budget proposal this week and could make substantial changes to Perdue’s proposal. Ultimately the Board of Regents will decide whether tuition hikes, layoffs or furloughs are needed to meet the budget figure set by lawmakers.
John Millsaps, a spokesman for the university system, said the Board of Regents would meet after lawmakers wrap up their session — likely sometime in April — to determine what to do.
