Jun 11, 2009
Governor Bobby Jindal Holds Press Conference with Former Governors to Discuss Importance of Higher Education Funding

BATON ROUGE – Today, Governor Bobby Jindal was joined by former Governors Treen, Roemer, Foster and Blanco to discuss the importance of higher education funding as the FY 10 state budget continues to move through the legislative process. The Governors all held a press conference to discuss the priorities they spoke about, following their meeting in the Governor’s office.

Governor Jindal said, “We had a very good discussion about the importance of continuing to strengthen our higher education system for years to come, and about how this must include finding efficiencies and identifying reforms within the higher education system as we move forward during challenging budget times. I appreciate my predecessors’ support and their ideas. Each of them have worked to advance higher education when they were in office and they also want to prioritize our education system so our kids have the opportunity to have a great education right here in Louisiana.”

Concerning higher education funding in the budget process currently, Governor Jindal said, “When we started the budget process, we had a proposed general fund reduction to higher education of around 15 percent. The House and the Senate have already acted to restore funding to higher education through different means of financing, and we are confident that through the rest of the budget process we will end up having a reduction to higher education that is less than 10 percent. While we do not support SB 335 as part of the Senate’s amendments to the budget because it would delay planned tax relief, we are confident that we can still mitigate higher education reductions through other sources.”

Governor Jindal stressed that a critical point all the Governors agreed on was that higher education must use the time afforded to them by incurring a reduction under 10 percent this year to assemble a comprehensive plan to reform higher education by identifying efficiencies and eliminating duplicative services.

Governor Jindal said that there were three specific areas of reforms he believes higher education officials must focus on. These areas include, first, supporting the flagship agenda at LSU, second, providing more opportunities for students to start their post-high school studies at technical and community schools, and third, developing unique centers of excellence in the state’s universities.

The Governor said he supports Speaker Tucker’s resolution to develop a plan to streamline higher education’s functions in order to specialize their focus and get rid of any duplication of services.

The former Governors also spoke of their support for bettering the states higher education system during challenging budget years, and they also stressed the need for higher education to become more efficient in order to strengthen their operations and provide greater opportunities for students.

The remarks of Governor Jindal and the former governors at today’s press conference can be viewed online by clicking this link. 

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