Feds May Decide La. College Cuts
by JORDAN BLUM - Advocate (excerpt)

The U.S. Department of Education may hold final sway over the future of budget cuts to Louisiana’s colleges, state officials acknowledge. The state is about to apply for a federal waiver needed to further slice into higher education budgets because of stipulations attached to the federal stimulus dollars being used to plug college funding gaps in Louisiana.

Federal stimulus requirements, called “maintenance of efforts” guidelines, do not allow states using stimulus dollars for colleges to cut budgets below their 2006 funding levels to keep higher education from being axed too disproportionately. State colleges were just $24 million above the 2006 levels before this month’s $84 million in cuts to higher education, said Donnie Vandal, Louisiana Board of Regents deputy commissioner for finance.

Gov. Bobby Jindal’s chief budget architect, Angèle Davis, said the waiver application may be submitted soon now that the state’s budget cuts from this month are being implemented. “We feel confident, and we’ve had detailed discussions with the Department (of Education),” said Davis, the state’s commissioner of administration. “We are comfortable we can take the mid-year cut (this month) and still get the waiver.”