Dateline: June 21, 2007

Perry vetoes $461k of Clarendon College funds

Clarendon College and community colleges across Texas were surprised Friday when Gov. Rick Perry vetoed $153.9 million in appropriations for employee and retiree health insurance in fiscal year 2008-2009.

The cut means the loss of more than $461,000 for Clarendon College and will likely mean higher costs and fewer services for students of the local college.

CC President Myles Shelton said community colleges had no forewarning about the cut and could not understand why the governor had taken this action.

“I don’t know why he’s mad at community colleges or why he’s singled them out,” Shelton said.

State Representative Warren Chisum (R-Pampa) chairs the House Appropriations Committee and was also surprised by the governor’s veto.

“I’m disappointed by it,” Chisum told the Enterprise. “That cost us a lot of money, and it was devastating for community colleges across the state.”

In a statement about the veto on his Web site, Gov. Perry said “…community colleges falsified their appropriation requests,” – a comment that Chisum takes exception to.

“That’s pretty bold for him to say that,” Chisum said. “The community colleges were very up front about their request. He just made this claim, and we’re left to deal with it.”

Chisum said the worst part about the veto is that it deals with health coverage, which he called “the toughest thing for any of us to deal with,” and he said the governor gave no indication he was going to veto the appropriation, or the Legislature would have put the money in the formula.

Shelton said the state has a cost-based formula for funding community colleges according to each discipline. In 1999, the Legislature funded community colleges based on 73 percent of the formula, but today it funds just over 50 percent of the formula.

“Funding at 73 percent of the formula would mean an additional million dollars for Clarendon College,” Shelton said. “The legislature discussed this issue and held hearings, and they funded an appropriation for group health insurance for our employees and retirees.

“(Perry’s) assertion that community colleges falsified our appropriation request is ludicrous,” Shelton said. “Not only did he veto the appropriation, he indicted every one of us; and that’s wrong.”

Perry further claimed that the state’s colleges could “fund most of fiscal year 2009 with fiscal year 2008 savings and the rest with increases provided for instruction and operations.”

Shelton noted that Clarendon College was one of 14 community colleges that received no new money under the recently approved state budget.

“What increase? We didn’t get any increase,” Shelton said of Perry’s remarks. “That’s a false statement applied to Clarendon College.”

A statement by the Texas Association of Community Colleges (TACC) called Perry’s notion that community colleges can absorb this cut a “folly” and notes that community colleges have still not recovered from drastic cuts made in 2002-2003 and that the current state budget “barely returns community colleges to fiscal year 1997 levels.”

“We are stunned that the governor would remove half of the state support for the health insurance for our faculty and administrators,” said TACC Board Chair John Pickelman. “With this veto of essential funding, the governor has fractured the historic relationship between local communities and the state.”

All community colleges in Texas were affected by Perry’s action, Shelton said. Frank Phillips in Borger will lose $585,000; South Plains College in Levelland was cut $3.3 million; Amarillo College will lose $3.75 million; and the most money was lost by Dallas County Community College, which was cut $15.7 million.

Shelton said CC’s loss was particularly harsh for area students and for the economic development aspect that CC plays in the local economy.

“We’re the only college in the eight counties that we serve,” he said, “and when you take away money like this, it hurts access and students.”

Shelton, who is stepping down from his position June 28, said he doesn’t know exactly how Clarendon College will deal with the loss of the appropriation, but he urged the faculty and administration to remain true to the mission of the college and reiterated that CC has a moral and legal obligation to provide health coverage for its employees and retirees.

Shelton also said he thinks if the college spreads the loss over two fiscal years, it will lessen the impact on programs and students.

While colleges across the state try to cope with the implications of Perry’s veto, other avenues may be pursued in Austin, where Chisum said the state has plenty of money to fund all the appropriations in the budget.

“We’re looking at options in my budget office,” Chisum said.