SGA prez to lawmakers: We’ve been quiet for too long

More than 200 students and faculty crowded into the University of Louisiana at Monroe Library Conference Room Monday seeking answers from lawmakers about the future of higher education in Louisiana.

“We’ve been quiet for too long,” ULM Student Government Association President Adrian LeJune said.

Four of northeastern Louisiana’s 16 legislators — Sens. Francis Thompson, D-Delhi, and Mike Walsworth, R-West Monroe and Reps. Katrina Jackson, D-Monroe, and Bubba Chaney, R-Rayville — attended the higher education funding forum.

All four said they were willing to fight Gov. Bobby Jindal’s proposed budget that cuts almost $600 million from higher education unless lawmakers find revenue to fill the gap.

Thompson, the dean of the delegation, said lawmakers have followed Jindal too long.

“The last seven years we cut higher education by $700 million; no other state has done that,” he said. “It’s time to stop and evaluate and plan and move in a different direction from what this administration has done.

“I’m tired of saying we can do more with less. I’m ready to do more with more,” Thompson said, which drew applause.

Jackson said lawmakers must be prepared to reduce tax exemptions to help higher education and close an overall $1.6 billion hole in next year’s budget.

“We’ve given away too much of the state’s money,” she said. “If you’re really for higher education you have to have a commitment to cut the tax exemption budget.”

Walsworth was optimistic, saying, “I do believe we will correct what’s happening to higher education with the governor’s budget.”

But Chaney warned, “I don’t see a consensus yet (in the Legislature). My No. 1 goal is to help solve higher education woes,” he said. “It’s going to take skin in the game from everybody.”

Though the legislators offered assurances of their personal support, none of the four has signed a pledge created by the Association of Louisiana Faculty Senates asking them to vote against any budget that cuts higher education.

Professors said they created the pledge (http://www.savelahighered.info/) to counter Bobby Jindal's no-new-tax pledge to Americans for Tax Reform.

“The budget calls for $600 million in university cuts,” Walsworth said. “If I can walk away with $10 million to $15 million in cuts that would be considered a victory by my university presidents, but it would be a violation of the pledge.”

Chaney said the pledge would “box me in and leave no flexibility for negotiations.”

“I’ve seen the detrimental affect of signing pledges,” Jackson said, referring to Jindal’s ATR pledge. “My pledge is my vote, and I’ve voted with higher education 100 percent of the time.”

Thompson said he was aware of the pledge, “but I can be more effective for higher education by standing up for it everyday, which I do,” he said.

Linda Holyfield, chief executive of P&S Surgical Hospital in downtown Monroe, and others spoke to legislators about what they called a “doomsday scenario” of potential cuts.

“It’s time for bold legislative leadership,” Holyfield said.

Follow Greg Hilburn on Twitter @GregHilburn1