By
Shana Heiser
Arizona Daily Wildcat
$45 to $50 million for state universities needs more planning before action
Allocation of Proposition 301 funds is still up in the air.
After 45 minutes of discussion, the Arizona Board of Regents decided to hold a special meeting after doing more research on where the funds should go.
"This is probably one of the most important times we're going to have in the lives of the universities," said Regent Don Ulrich, ABOR president. "I want to make sure the planning process is impeccable."
Regents and the three state university presidents agreed to hold a half-day retreat before they meet again in January. Between now and the retreat, everyone will do research and bring ideas back.
"We need some guidance that will enable us to give the regents something to chew on," said University of Arizona President Peter Likins. "We would really welcome four hours."
Proposition 301 increases the state sales tax from 5 to 5.6 percent on a dollar. The regents said this would give the state universities $45 to $50 million in fiscal year 2002.
"This is taxpayers' money, and we need to make sure we are responsible," Ulrich said. "This could have a tremendous impact on the economy of the state."
A proposal for "discussion and possible action" was brought to the meeting, but regents were troubled with the approach outlined in the summary.
The proposed guidelines for allocation of Proposition 301 funding set aside $2.5 million for Arizona State University's scheduled debt service. Of the remaining millions, different percentages would be devoted to improving access to public university education and to research, development and technology transfer in areas such as biotechnology, and environmental science and optics.
This outline of fund allocation was too restricting for the regents, because more information is needed about which programs need the most money before a plan is formed.
"We're starting to put parameters and we don't even know what we're dealing with," Ulrich said. "We'll give universities a chance to come back and see what their priorities are. What is the quality plan? What are the priorities?"
Student Regent Mary Echeverria, an ASU economics senior, was concerned with the politics involved because three universities would be vying for one pool of money.
"It could create a mess," she said.
The university presidents also need to determine the most needy areas to receive significant amounts of money because, Echeverria said, a million dollars here and there will not profoundly impact programs.
"I really want to see some changes and some things that are going to be dynamic," Echeverria said.
Although 54 percent of Arizona voters approved Proposition 301, the number of Tucson supporters were not as strong, Regent Hank Amos said, and he wonders why.
"I would like to do post-election polling to see why people didn't vote for this, why it didn't pass overwhelmingly," Amos said.
When regents and presidents return in January, they want to have solid direction before they proceed, Regent Judy Gignac said.
"Examples need to include well-defined segments of accountability measurement," Gignac said. "It is probably the single most important change in how we fund higher education."
Likins said he is prepared to do his "homework" and return in January to divide the funds before the legislature closes.
"If you give us some guidance, we know how to harness our energies," he said.
