Regents set cuts

Louisiana’s top higher education board announced Wednesday how it plans to divvy up to $219 million in proposed cuts among the state’s four public college systems next year.
The action by the Board of Regents was in response to Gov. Bobby Jindal’s $26.7 billion budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Jindal proposes $219 million in college cuts to help balance a budget hammered by oil and gas revenue drops, tax cuts and the national recession.
Under the Board of Regents plan, the LSU System would take the biggest hit: a $102 million cut. The University of Louisiana System would lose $67 million, the Louisiana Community and Technical College System would be reduced by $29 million, and the Southern University System would be cut nearly $17 million.
Lawmakers will make a final decision on the size of the higher education cuts and how they will be divided when they meet in a legislative session that begins April 27.
The Regents plan would start to phase in a reworked higher education funding formula that rewards schools based on certain performance benchmarks.