Nevada’s higher ed system holds first budget reduction meeting

A Nevada higher education system committee created in response to COVID-19-related budget cuts held its first meeting Friday.

The Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents’ budget reduction response committee heard presentations virtually about NSHE funding sources and shared services. No action was taken, except on changing the committee’s name to fiscal sustainability committee.

Last month, Gov. Steve Sisolak asked state agencies to prepare for 12 percent annual budget cuts for the 2021-23 biennium. For NSHE, that is about $84.9 million per year or $169.8 million for the biennium. That is on top of cuts NSHE already has responded to during the pandemic and employee furlough days required by the state.

In August, regents voted to create a budget reduction response committee and affiliated advisory group. Regents John Moran and Lisa Levine voted in opposition.

The committee is made up of four regents — with Patrick Carter as chairman — and 24 advisory members, including college and university presidents, and faculty, staff, student and alumni leaders.

Carter told the committee the intent is to meet monthly, probably starting at the end of January or beginning of February.

“This committee is tasked with coming up with ideas so that we can come out on the other side of this pandemic stronger and that we are better able to adjust for when the next budget issue arises,” he said.

Carter said that the committee is looking for “ideas and positivity about our future” and that he hopes everyone leaves pessimism at the door and has open conversations.

The goal of Friday’s meeting was to gain understanding about NSHE and how it’s funded, he said.

NSHE Chief Financial Officer Andrew Clinger provided an overview of system funding sources. “We are obviously a very large and complex organization with almost $2 billion in both revenues and spending,” he said.

Sources of revenue for NSHE totals $1.98 billion for fiscal year 2020. Of that, $668.3 million — nearly 34 percent — is state appropriations. Other revenue sources include grants and contracts, tuition and fees, gifts, extraordinary items and investment income.

Operating expenses for all funds total $1.99 billion this fiscal year. Of that, about two-thirds — $1.35 billion — is employee compensation and benefits. Other categories are supplies and services, scholarships and fellowships, and depreciation.

Ronn Kolbash, associate vice president for shared services at the University of Chicago, gave a presentation about shared services.

As for a committee name change, Carter said he wanted to see a name that’s more “solutions oriented.”

NSHE Chancellor Melody Rose said her recommendation was “long-term fiscal sustainability committee.” She said she likes that name because it focuses on what NSHE is trying to achieve, rather than casting it in a negative light.

In a public comment, Kent Ervin, a University of Nevada, Reno, faculty member who’s also a member of the Nevada Faculty Alliance, asked the committee to consider putting “sustainability” or “sustainable” in its name.

Ervin said he was told the committee is looking at long-term ways to improve efficiencies, which is very different than responding to a pandemic.

The committee shouldn’t be proposing academic program reductions or laying off faculty, he said, noting that would do long-term damage to educational missions and reputations that can’t be easily undone once the economy turns around.

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.