Talk of drastic cuts in the state's education budget became a reality Wednesday when the Governor released his fiscal year (FY) 2009 education budget recommendation. This reality is especially harsh for the four-year college and university community. Of the $380 million in cuts to the $6.7 billion education budget, $186 million were to the four-year colleges and universities.

Under the Governor's proposal, four-year public colleges and universities would be cut by 13.3% in FY 2009. In the budget presented to Legislators on Wednesday, college and university funding for FY 2009 was cut to FY 2007 funding levels. The state's two-year college system was cut by 10%, while K-12 was cut by only 2.6%.

The FY 2009 Executive Budget recommendation for the University of South Alabama is $119,638,263. This represents a cut of $18.5 million from current year funding.

Earlier this year, Legislative Fiscal Officer, Ms. Joyce Bigbee, projected a shortfall in state revenue to the Education Trust Fund in FY 2009 of $615 million. This includes increases needed for the Teacher Retirement System and the Public Education Employees Health Insurance Program totaling more than $74 million. The Executive Budget presented Wednesday only cuts $380 million in FY 2009, assuming $235 million more in revenue for next year than Ms. Bigbee's projection.