Delta State feeling budget cut pain, loss of faculty

CLEVELAND - There has not been a single college or university in the state that hasn't been impacted by state budget cuts in education in recent years. But smaller institutions, such as Delta State University, can find it particularly tough because they don't have the reserves and outside funding

The staff has not had a pay increase for three years. And many are being called upon to take on additional responsibilities because of a hiring freeze that has resulted in vacancies not being filled. That means remaining staff members have to pick up the slack.

Delta State University has received funding cuts of 5% for two years in a row. Thornell said that it is hard to make up that amount of funding since the university didn't have much in reserve.

Larger institutions also get more of their funding from outside sources such as federal grants. Re lying primarily on state funding can be a disadvantage when state funding sources decline.

One way Delta State has responded to the budget shortfall is establishing a grant office. Instructors are being encouraged to apply for outside funding primarily from foundations and the federal government.

Delta State has about 4,000 students, and although located in the heavily African American Delta, it is not a historically black college or university. Because of the Ayers lawsuit regarding equal funding for minorities in higher education, historically black universities in the state will be receiving additional funding. But Delta State will not share in those revenues.

Thornell said the budget problems have had an impact on faculty morale. Some faculty members have left, and others who had planned to stay longer are retiring. He added that the uncertainly about when the economy might recover enough for education funding to be restored makes it more difficult to retain staff.

Dr. Camille Branton, immediate past chair of the Delta State University Faculty Senate, said that the continuing budget cuts make it appear the state isn't concerned with education and doesn't value educators.

"We don't feel like we are perceived to have much value to the state," Branton said. "The concern is after a number of years of problems funding education, educators have stayed here because of a passion to educate people in Mississippi.. But then there comes the problem you have to feed your family. There are many faculty concerned about that issue as the budget cuts continue without an end in sight."

She said the funding shortfalls also cause a strain on the quality of the university's programs, and puts some programs in jeopardy of losing accreditation.

"When you have too many classes that are taught by adjunct professors, you can't control the quality,' she said. "They are not replacing faculty, which is adding to the workload. As they are filling in classes with adjunct faculty, the regular staff is having to pick up more of the regular work."

Branton said the administration is trying to support the faculty in every way possible.

"It is tempting to pass the buck, but it is not the administration's fault," Branton said. "I have worked closely with the administration in the past year. But every time they come up with an idea to possibly help the faculty, they have been knocked down, It is important to know the problem is not from within. It is from without."

Scott Luth, executive director, Cleveland-Bolivar County Chamber of Commerce and Industrial Development Foundation, said the community hasn't yet seen a large impact from the budget cuts at Delta State. But that could change during the next 12 months.

"We have a lot of local businesses that support Delta State, and obviously if those budget dollars are cut, those folks won't have the same amount of business they had with Delta State the prior year," Luth said. "As a community we will feel the impact. How great that impact is, we probably won't know in the short term. It is probably something we will see over a longer time period. I'm sure at this point and time Delta State doesn't know exactly where they are going to cut."

Delta State is one of the largest employers in the area, coming in third after Baxter Healthcare and the local 'hospital and medical community. Luth said that with positions not being filled when they become vacant at Delta State, that has an impact on housing demand and local sales.

"The dollars that flow through that university go through our economy," Luth said. "When they have less to spend, that has an effect. But we won't know how large an impact until we move through this year. Our hope is they will be able to supplement some of that impact by additional, grants from outside sources. We have written support letters for some of the departments we work with at Delta State who are applying for outside grant sources to help supplement programs."

Luth said that other state funding shortfalls are affecting Cleveland and Bolivar County, Access to state services is where the impact is being seen more than anywhere else. One of the first things cut in state agencies is the travel budget, and so state officials Bolivar County depends on for assistance on projects are less likely to be able to visit.

"It is going to cut the trips we get to receive services," Luth said. "We also anticipate MDA cutting grants to tourism like it did last year. Unless we can find a way to make up the difference, which is hard to do because traffic is less in this area, it means we will probably be advertising less because we were dependent on matching grants from the state. We are dependent on that money to bring people to this area. Less advertising means less folks coming into the community, and less revenue. We're anticipating larger cuts in tourism and marketing grants than we got last year."