Budgeting for higher ed

Dastardly path

Regarding “Abbott’s priorities lingering in Austin” (Page A3, March 26), as chair of the University of Texas System Board of Regents, I was tasked in the 2001 and 2003 legislative sessions with dealing with demands from the Capitol to cut our budgets. This is more difficult to accomplish than some other agencies because of long-term commitments already made for education, health care and other services. When students enroll they are being offered years of a services of a certain quality and reducing funding arbitrarily basically amounts to a bait and switch.

Of course, we dealt with those requests with a cooperative attitude; times were tough, and we needed to do our part. But The UT System was allowed to find places to cut which produced minimal damage to invaluable programs. And in 2003, the Legislature found ways to reallocate funds to higher education by the end of the session.

There exist many programs with great value that are distinct from usual academic offerings. Special funding by the Legislature provides financial support and allows these unique, highly productive programs to thrive. By the time the programs are funded they have passed rigorous reviews at many levels. And they are vital to the reputation Texas needs to attract the best and brightest students, faculty and researchers.

The current approach of whacking away at such invaluable programs is a disastrous way to fund higher education. This shameful way of allocating resources has a hint of antagonism to higher education and comes across as punitive. Someone in leadership needs to show up and change this course of destructive behavior.

Charles Miller, Houston