Well, here we go again. It's January, which means it's time for resolutions and wiping the slate clean...and another big swing of the state budget axe which lands squarely on our universities and technical colleges.
Of the $250-million in state cuts, higher education took an unforgivable $50 million. That's because just about everything EXCEPT higher education has been protected by law in Baton Rouge so McNeese, Sowela and the rest of the state's institutions of higher education become Louisiana's fiscal whipping boys. And let's not forget that 50-mil is just for the second semester, not an entire year.
School officials do the best they can to absorb these now-predictable body-blows, but if you look behind the reassuring soundbites you'll see the crumbling impact on our campuses, our faculty and our students.
Louisiana talks a good story about retaining our best and brightest and retraining our workforce. But we can't move forward if our colleges keep getting kicked in the gut till there's nothing left to give. McNeese and Sowela aren't being nibbled to death by minnows. They are now being devoured by pirahnas.
McNeese and Sowela depend on adequate state funding. The laws simply must be changed to protect higher education and they must be changed right quick.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you have a comment or reply to this Hot Button Editorial? Please send it to hotbutton@kplctv.com. We may post it here in the comments thread and/or use it in a Hot Button Rebuttal.
What's YOUR Hot Button? Friend Jim Serra on Facebook at Jim Serra Kplc and join in the behind-the-scenes conversation!
Comments