Pitt meets with Senate Appropriations Committee about funding

Four Pitt administrators met with the Pennsylvania Senate Appropriations Committee Wednesday… Four Pitt administrators met with the Pennsylvania Senate Appropriations Committee Wednesday morning to discuss why Pitt doesn’t deserve a 30 percent cut in state funding.

The meeting with Pitt officials and the Senate Appropriations Committee came in response to the latest wave of proposed funding cuts for Pennsylvania’s state-related institutions, including Pitt, Penn State and Temple University. Pitt administrators took their time to plead the case of Pitt’s impact on Western Pennsylvania and the state as a whole.

Under Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed budget, which he announced on Feb. 8, Pitt stands to lose $41 million in funding, or 30 percent, from $136.1 million to $95.3 million.

Paul Supowitz, Pitt’s Vice Chancellor of Governmental Relations, said he thought Wednesday’s meetings in Harrisburg went “very well.” He said that Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg answered a series of questions from the committee regarding issues such as the direct effects the cuts have on Pitt, including rising tuition costs, as well as the University’s economic impact on the regional economy.

“The legislators were very positive about the impact of the University of Pittsburgh,” Supowitz said in regard to Pitt’s relations with the state. “I think they appreciated that. They asked questions about what the cuts mean [to Pitt] and the regional impact.”

Supowitz said that along with Nordenberg, three other Pitt officials spoke, including Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor Patricia Beeson, Chief Financial Officer Arthur Ramicone and the dean of Pitt’s Medical School, Arthur Levine.

Supowitz said that members of the Appropriations Committee, including committee chairman state Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre, expressed their desire to stop the cuts.

Cameron Kline, Corman’s spokesman, said Senate Appropriations hearings provide the committee with an opportunity to assess the budgetary needs of state-funded agencies.

“All the agencies come in, and what they’re doing is first of all making themselves available to the appropriations committee so that the committee can ask them about their budgets and their needs,” Kline said.

Kline said the Appropriations Committee hearings in both the state House of Representatives and state Senate allow for assessment of the governor’s budget. He said the committee takes into account “the social priorities and the needs of the Commonwealth for next year.”

Before Corbett finalizes the budget, both the House and Senate create their own budgets. After deliberation, both chambers settle on a final yearly budget that the governor must sign by the end of June.

In regard to Corman’s opinion on the cuts, Kline said the senator wants as many resources given to schools as possible after seeing the impact of Penn State on his own constituency. He said Penn State is the largest employer in the area and that students fuel the local economy.

“Senator Corman has been very vocal about funding for higher ed,” Kline said. “This is a process. I don’t think all 50 senators come together and say ‘Yes, this is a number.’”

On Monday, Corman told The Pitt News he opposed any cuts in funding toward Pitt or any of the state-related universities.

“I’m going to do my best to not have any cuts this year,” he said.

Although the support toward state-related universities appeared to be on the rise in the Senate Appropriations Committee, members of the committee also acknowledged that Pennsylvania faces tough economic circumstances with a deficit reaching over $4 billion in 2011.

Brittany Bartkus, director of policy development for state Sen. Wayne Fontana, D-Allegheny, whose constituency encompasses a large portion of Pitt’s campus, said in an email that Corbett made it clear in his first budget that his administration will “use cost-cutting maneuvers” to save money.

She said that all state organizations now face reduced budgets and colleges and universities are no exception.

Bartkus said the recent round of cuts places the challenge in the hands of universities. She said they must now re-examine ways to reduce spending without moving the burden onto students and parents through increases in tuition.

“I think the best we can hope for from these hearings is that funding for the University of Pittsburgh be flat funded for fiscal year 2012-2013,” Bartkus said. “An allocation of $136.1 million may not be ideal, but it is better than a decrease in funding.”