Charleston Gazette – The House of Delegates and Senate are considering lower budget cuts to higher education than Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin proposed, according to the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. Read
Sean O’Leary, policy analyst for the nonprofit organization, said the House’s version of the fiscal year 2015-16 budget bill would slice $4.3 million from higher education, while the Senate’s iteration contemplates $4.5 million in decreases to the state’s 2-year and 4-year colleges and universities. Both versions plan to take more from the state’s rainy day fund than the $15.5 million the governor suggested.
Those proposed higher education funding decreases are roughly a third of the $12 million slash Tomblin proposed in January – but O’Leary said the lesser cuts proposed by the Legislature would still bring higher education spending in the Mountain State to its lowest level, adjusted for inflation, since 2008.
