NSHE approves 2019 budget request
Items include summer class boost, performance pool, medical school staffing
The Nevada Board of Regents on Friday approved the final piece of its 2019 legislative budget request that will go to the governor’s office next month.
The total request includes an infusion of $120 million in new money for higher education that the board approved last month, as well as a supplemental funding request in the event the state’s Economic Forum unearths more money later this year.
“I think this is a budget we can be proud of, and it provides maximum return on investments being made by the citizens of Nevada for higher education in our state,” said Thom Reilly, chancellor for the Nevada System of Higher Education.
Following guidance provided by the governor’s office, the board in June approved the bulk of its request, which includes $15 million for colleges to boost their summer course offerings in Stem-related and high-demand workforce fields.
Under the current funding formula, the Legislature funds summer school only for nursing programs. Over the past few months, Reilly and the regents have expressed the importance of this expansion,
NSHE
saying that it can accelerate student completion.
In another new initiative, the NSHE will ask the governor for
$7.5 million for a performance pool that will be set aside and distributed to campuses if they meet stretch goals.
The request also includes additional money for the Nevada Promise Scholarship Program and
$14 million for UNLV’S medical school to ramp up its staffing levels
to full capacity.
Additionally, the board approved a supplemental request Friday to address issues of faculty compensation, specifically salary compression. Over the past several months, faculty members from various colleges have approached the board asking for merit pay raises and to address compression, which happens when faculty salaries fall out of sync with those of newly hired members.
“Faculty who got here before me make tens of thousands of dollars more than I could ever hope to make,” said Megan Becker, an associate professor of English at UNLV.
“Meanwhile, new hires and junior faculty start at salaries that will allow them to eclipse mine.”
If money is available, the board will ask the state for $20 million to address compensation concerns and require the colleges to kick in $10 million. The figure represents one-third of the amount suggested by an outside consulting firm that completed a salary study for the NSHE in May.
Contact Natalie Bruzda at nbruzda@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3897. Follow @ Nataliebruzda on Twitter.