State budget disappoints PSU, Spanier

By DARYL LANG
Collegian Staff Writer

Penn State received only a 2.5 percent increase in state funding in Gov. Tom Ridge's latest budget proposal, the governor's office announced yesterday.

The proposed $306.5 million in funding falls short of the $321 million Penn State requested, said Bill Mahon, director of the Penn State Department of Public Information.

"I am disappointed in this proposal for Penn State," Penn State President Graham Spanier said in a prepared statement.

"A higher level of funding is needed to help us hold the line on tuition, maintain quality in our educational programs, provide a modest salary increase to our employees and implement the most important features of our long-range plan," Spanier said.

Mahon also expressed disappointment, "especially considering the overall surplus and strength of the economy in the state."

Last year, the governor proposed and ultimately delivered a 3.25 percent increase in funding for Penn State, slightly less than the 3.5 percent the university requested.

The governor's recommendations for fiscal year 1999–2000 still face months of shaping before they could take effect on July 1.

Spanier will appear before state House and Senate budget committees later this month in Harrisburg to support larger Penn State appropriations.

In his statement, Spanier expressed optimism that Ridge's proposal for higher education technology grants might support the Penn State's new School of Information Sciences and Technology.

This fiscal year, Penn State is receiving $299.1 million in state funding.

The proposed 2.5 percent increase is uniform across the State System of Higher Education, which includes Penn State, the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University and Lincoln University.

Pennsylvania ranks among the lowest states in the country in higher education funding, Mahon said.

In the education portion of his budget proposal, Ridge marked elementary and secondary schools for the greatest increases, including a new reading program and a 5 percent increase in special education funding.

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