Dateline: July 19, 2007

Perry stands by veto of college funding

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is standing by his veto of $153.9 million in appropriations for community college employee and retiree health insurance in fiscal year 2008-2009.

Returning from a meeting of all 50 state community colleges in The Woodlands last week, Clarendon College Interim President W.R. Auvenshine said the conference started with a ray of hope but ended with a stiff rebuke from the governor.

“The first two days we were very optimistic, and Perry had even suggested that he had received some bad advice,” Auvenshine said. “We were beginning to think that the support for community colleges across the state and even from our representatives in Washington would do some good, and we’d see funds restored through the Legislative Budget Board (LBB).”

But on the last day of the conference – Friday, July 13 – the governor issued a press release defending his veto and saying that community colleges were not following state law in their appropriations requests.

Perry’s veto cost Clarendon College more than $461,000 and has left community colleges across the state searching for ways to deal with reduced funding.

“This takes one-fourth of the state appropriation from each community college district in Texas,” Auvenshine said. “But unlike other districts, Clarendon has no major industry other that farming and ranching, and it’s a heavy burden on us because our tax base is so low.”

The governor’s action has also left community colleges unsure of what they did wrong.

“We’re at a loss to figure out where we have not followed the law,” Auvenshine said. “(Perry) claims we’re paying (state funded) insurance to employees who do not receive state funds. No one admits to doing that, and certainly Clarendon College did not do that.”

Perry’s opinion piece, which was printed in Sunday’s Amarillo Globe-News, claims the governor has overseen a 16.4 percent increase in funding at community colleges, $121.1 million, in the past six years.

“How can he say he did that and be proud of the fact when his veto took away more than $150 million?” Auvenshine asked.

The governor’s commentary has dimmed hopes that community colleges had of the LBB being able to reverse the funding cut since Perry would have to approve their action, Auvenshine said. And while community college leaders feel certain the Texas Legislature will restore their funding in 2009, Clarendon and 49 other colleges are left to deal with the loss at hand.

“The Board (of Regents) has taken steps to increase tuition and will now have to look at increasing taxes,” Auvenshine said. “We also do have the possibility of implementing a maintenance tax in Childress and Pampa to support our centers there.”

A maintenance tax, voluntarily adopted by those locations and coming with no representation on the college board, could raise $600,000 for the Pampa Center and $250,000 for CC’s Childress classes, he said. But the soonest Gray and Childress county voters could act on the question would be next May, and the tax wouldn’t be collected until 2009.

Until another solution is found, Auvenshine said the burden for Perry’s veto will fall on students and local taxpayers.