AZ STATE BUDGET GLEANINGS: BREAKTHROUGH MAY BE NIGH

posted by Michael Chihak

Thursday is the likely day this week to look for movement on a state budget for next fiscal year, Sen. Andy Biggs is quoted in the Arizona Capitol Times as saying.

In a story posted today, the Capitol Times' Jeremy Duda quoted Biggs as saying, "“I wouldn’t bet my house on it. I believe it’s going to get done by Thursday. I truly do.”

Biggs is the Senate Appropriations Committee chairman, so he should know whereof he speaks.

Duda and others have reported that differences remain in the three-way discussions -- House leaders, Senate leaders and the governor -- but they are moving closer.

Brewer said last week she will stand by her pledge to keep cuts to K-12 education to a minimum. Meantime, several senators have said they want those cuts bigger to help reduce the state's borrowing and budget "gimmicks." One of those gimmicks is delaying state payment of K-12 funding until July 1, getting it out of the current fiscal year to balance the budget.

Biggs said the cuts need to be deeper than Brewer has called for so Republicans can keep their campaign promise to get the state's finances in order.

In the House, Republican Rep. Jack Harper said he and some of his colleagues don't care if the deeper cuts come from K-12 education, just so the rollovers and other gimmickry of the budget are done away with.

Assuming information will be forthcoming on the state budget in na few days, Arixzona Week will focus on it for Friday's program.

CUT HIGHER ED AND 'MORTGAGE OUR FUTURE AS A STATE'

posted by Michael Chihak

Arizona Board of Regents' Chair Anne Mariucci's message is crystal clear:

"You cut into the bone of the higher education system, and you mortgage our future as a state."

Mariucci made the comment in an interview for Friday's Arizona Week, airing at 8:30 p.m. on KUAT-TV 6 in Tucson and at 10:30 p.m. on KAET-TV 8 in Phoenix.

Mariucci said she and the regents will work hard with the three university presidents to keep tuition increases to a minimum and financial aid to a maximum as they continue driving the universities for change and greater success in graduation rates.

The diverse missions that the three universities have been working on for several years are showing progress as each finds a niche in the higher education market for Arizona, she said. An accountability system that will measure freshmen retention and graduation rates and the numbers of community college transfers will help ensure continued progress, Mariucci said.

See her interview, the perspective of University of Arizona College of Science Dean Joaquin Ruiz and the commentary of three journalists on Friday's program. Mariucci's complete, unedited interview will be available for viewing at azweek.com Friday night.

COLLEGE TUITION INCREASES AS 'LAST RESORT' TO CUT BUDGETS

posted by Michael Chihak

The Arizona Board of regents heard the three university presidents at a budget work session Tuesday describe how they will meet an expected $170 million cut in their budgets for 2011-12.

The cut is proposed in Gov. Jan Brewer's budget, the details of which are being negotiated among Republican leaders of the Legislature.

In a press release statement issued after Tuesday's meeting, Regents Chair Anne Mariucci said, “The Regents considered today very real and painful base-budget spending reduction proposals for each of the three state universities. Arizona families and students deserve no less than the Regents’ full consideration of university spending cuts that go beyond what was once thought possible, just as Arizona families and businesses have been required to implement. Tuition increase options can and must be considered only as an option of last resort.”

The University of Arizona, Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University already are operating under cost-reduction options that include redefining their missions, consolidating academic programs and colleges. They have absorbed $230 million in state funding cuts in the last few years.

In the last two years, Brewer allocated more than $200 million of the state's allotment of federal economic stimulus money to the universities to cover parts of the state cuts. The federal fund is now exhausted.

Arizona Week will delve into the topic on Friday's program, looking at how the cuts will affect higher education and whether tuition and fee increases can be minimized.

The regents will conduct a public hearing on March 28 on the impact of any tuition and fee increases.

CHANGING FOCUS FROM BIG BUDGETS TO SMALLER BUDGETS

posted by Michael Chihak

The Arizona Board of Regents is meeting today in Tempe for a work session "on budget and related issues," according to the agenda.

The three university presidents will present to the board information on the budget reductions they have put into place for the last three years and discuss the expected impact of the proposed reductions for the next year.

That's based on Republican Gov. Jan Brewer's proposed budget calling for $170 million in cuts to the budgets for the three universities.

Included in today's discussions will be how the universities will handle tuition increases and at what levels for the coming year, assuming the governor's budget cuts.

Additionally, the regents and the presidents will discuss continued differentiation of the missions of the three universities, speeding up consolidations and other cost-saving measures.

We will focus Friday's Arizona Week on the topic, hoping to talk with at least one member of the Board of Regents and a University of Arizona dean with the academic and educational perspective. We will assemble a panel of expert journalists to analyze and comment on the issues.

Meantime, in this space, we will provide links to relevant information, including news reports from today's Board of Regents' work session.

TWO DISTINCT WAYS OF LOOKING AT LEADERSHIP

posted by Michael Chihak

Republican leaders in the Arizona Senate may unveil their state budget proposal today, and early indications are it would have more drastic cuts in it than Gov. Jan Brewer has called for.

The Arizona Republic reported that on Sunday, saying there could be $600 million more in cuts than the $1 billion or so that Brewer has called for. Cuts would come in health services, the Department of Economic Security and all levels of public education. One lawmaker said the Department of Corrections would be off limits to cuts.

We will watch the developments closely. Look for more reports here and for development of the state budget as the topic for this week's program.

The other possibility as of now is the Flinn-Brown Civic Leadership Academy, which opens its first class on Friday in Phoenix. A partnership of the Flinn Foundation of Phoenix and the Thomas R. Brown Foundations of Tucson, the academy will begin educating 25 Arizonans on the state's most important issues.

The Academy's Website describes its mission thusly: "The Arizona Center for Civic Leadership’s Flinn-Brown Civic Leadership Academy is intended to help expand the cadre of future state leaders with the skills to address Arizona’s long-term issues. The Civic Leadership Academy complements existing local and regional leadership-training programs in Arizona, but is differentiated by its focus on state-level issues and leadership and emphasis on mentoring, plans, and follow-up support."

We plan to take a look at this innovative program, either this week or next, and we hope to talk with some of those who have been selected to take part.

AZ'S FRAGILE ECONOMY WILL BE HURT BY MEDICAID CUTS

posted by Michael Chihak

Arizona, more so than many states, relies on its vast Medicaid program as a bolster to the economy, in that the health insurance program provides coverage for workers in numerous small businesses, says an executive with Banner Health.

Dennis Dahlen, senior vice president and CFO of the state's largest health-care system, said in an interview for Friday's Arizona Week that the cuts Gov. Jan Brewer proposes in Medicaid will contribute to the "economic malaise the state is facing."

He said Banner might have to lay off employees and will consolidate services plus put off capital projects if the cuts go through.

Dahlen also said that the quality of health care will decline for many in the state, including those using Banner's 13 hospitals because of service consolidations and people losing primary-care physicians and thus having to rely on emergency rooms for care.

Medicaid, or as it is known in Arizona, ACCCHS, is a good deal for the state because it means Arizonans get $7 or so in federal money for every $2 or $3 in state-generated money, Dahlen said. Thus, he said, cutting state Medicaid funding as the governor and Republican legislators have proposed would have a "negative multiplier" of up to $4 in lost federal money for every $1 or so in cut state money.

Dahlen's interview will be part of Friday's Arizona Week on Medicaid cuts in the state, at 8:30 p.m. MST on KUAT-TV in Tucson and 10:30 p.m. MST on KAET-TV in Phoenix. It also may be viewed online at azweek.com.