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update >> Chancellor Jackson's letter
February
6, 2003
The Honorable Rick Perry
Governor of Texas
PO Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711
Dear
Governor Perry:
As
requested by your letter of January 23, 2003, the University
of North Texas System responds today with our plan to reduce
the General Revenue received from the State of Texas by 7% in
the current fiscal year. We share your regret over the economic
conditions in Texas that have made this action necessary but
we appreciate the latitude you have given us and other agencies
to determine the most practical and least damaging ways to implement
a reduction of our previously budgeted state revenues.
We
agree with the general priorities expressed in your letter and
have endeavored to avoid cuts that would cause a direct reduction
of educational service to students in the current year. We will
try to minimize future negative impacts but some of our changes
will create reduced opportunities for UNT and its students in
the coming years. Our enrollments grew significantly this past
year and instead of preparing for that growth, we are, in some
areas of the budget, now deferring or eliminating investments
in program capacity and quality.
I
have enclosed three documents, outlining the changes proposed
for the UNT System, UNT
at Denton, and the UNT Health Science
Center in Fort Worth. These show the way in which our General
Revenue targets have been calculated, a description of the major
changes being implemented, and a suggestion about the method
and timing of the State’s adjustments of these amounts from the
appropriate UNT budget lines.
If
additional reductions calculated based on HEAF and PUF distributions
are indicated, we will identify appropriate further adjustments
in our budget for the remainder of the year.
We
have given some details of our planning for these reductions
in order that you and other state officials will know our strategies. I
do want to emphasize that these are our current intents but the
actual strategies will be refined to reflect institutional and,
in some cases, departmental needs.
We
hope that with more time ahead in the session to plan for the
next biennial budget, it will be possible to avoid reductions
in the higher education formula funding for the 2004-5 budget. As
surely as our public schools are growing and graduating more
students each year, colleges and universities and health science
centers will depend on growth in formula funding to accommodate
the State’s needs.
I
appreciate the comments each of you has made in recent weeks
about higher education as a State priority. We will work with
you in every way to address the issues of this session.
Sincerely,
Lee F. Jackson
Chancellor
cc: Legislative
Budget Board
Senate Finance Committee
House Appropriations Committee
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